Asur (TV series)

A flashback 16 years ago shows Shubh preaching to three followers and killing one of them as he was "no longer needed in this journey".

Dhananjay Rajpoot (DJ) is at a monastery in Dharamshala, struggling with his guilt at being responsible for so many deaths. Naina traces DJ and tries to enlist his help finding Swati, her daughter's killer.

CBI chief Shashank Awasthi faces judicial pressure while trying to retain custody of Kesar Bhardawaj, who warns Awasthi that the apocalypse is coming. Ishani Chaudhary, a new CBI officer, has suspicions about Rasool Shaikh.

Nikhil Nair is haunted by his decision, while being hailed a hero by the media for sacrificing his daughter to save three social workers. He receives new GPS coordinates that lead the CBI to an ice factory and another masked dead body. Naina pushes Nikhil to sign divorce papers.

The flashback takes us 16 years back to Prayagraj. A teenaged Shubh challenges an elderly pandit in a theological debate, easily defeating the latter. Shubh's main argument is that self-sacrifice is a sin and insult to life itself. The impressed pandit invites Shubh to join his matha in Haridwar. He temporarily parts ways with his two followers, telling them to keep their goal in mind at all times.

Amid media frenzy over the triple murders, Nikhil & Nusrat look into the dead bodies for clues. They visit Kesar in jail to ask about a watch piece they found in one of the corpses. Kesar taunts them saying "you still can't see what is right in front of you."

Ishani continues to investigate Rasool. Naina and Nikhil's differences continue to grow.

DJ and Naina pay a cold blooded visit to an unrepentant Swati who is hiding out in Shimla. DJ speaks with the Asur using Swati's phone and declares war. Naina insists on assisting him with this 'digital war'.

In Dharamsala, a wise teenaged monk who had earlier counselled DJ, revives a fainted monk by touching his forehead.

DJ travels to Varanasi to trace Shubh's steps after he escaped a jail fire with three other inmates, eventually learning that two of them are now dead; one of them was the kidnapper who had taken Nikhil hostage. The third one's name was Balveer Suber.

The flashback sequence is from 12 years ago in Trilok dham, Haridwar. Shubh tends to the ailing pandit who tells him the matha is in danger. He wants Shubh to assume the responsibilities of running the monastery and fulfil his duty. Shubh refuses saying this monastery was just a stage of his life and his duty is to the entire world. The old man dies, seemingly from poison. We then see newspaper clippings about contaminated water killing 22 people at the ashram.

The CBI team finds another body, dumped in a lake. In Kullu, the young monk Anant urgently stops a bus right before an avalanche, with the media dubbing him 'miracle boy' and social media posts calling him 'the saviour'.

Paul (Meiyang Chang) arrives at the CBI office to take over the Asur case, much to the dismay of the team. When Kesar is released on bail, Paul asks Nusrat to fabricate evidence in the latest lake murder's report to implicate Kesar.

DJ and Naina watch Kesar's portal and find a code probably being used by Asur cult members to communicate. DJ continues retracing Shubh's journey after the jail fire escape, from Prayagraj to Haridwar to Delhi where he meets a sculptor, Vrinda (Barkha Bisht Sengupta). She is blind and likens Shubh to Krishna and herself to a gopi. When DJ tells her what Shubh really is, she goes into denial and tells him to leave. DJ steals a book signed by Shubh while leaving her house. Finding a inscription on the book, Naina decodes the portal messages which refer to the next attack being on 'Ashwini Nakshatra'. Despite DJ's veto, Naina tips of CBI chief Awasthi anonymously about the forthcoming attack.

Ishani shares her suspicions about Rasool with Nikhil, who initially advises her to never ignore her instincts. Surveilling Rasool, Ishani finds pictures & videos of herself on a pen drive in his apartment. When she shows these to Nikhil, he is noncommittal and asks her to focus on preventing the Ashwini Nakshatra attack. Meanwhile, she convinces a colleague to conduct a ballstics analysis on Lolark Dubey's death, off the record. While snooping on Rasool outside his residence, Ishani is captured. An unknown woman watches her as she is bound and gagged, with a noose around her neck.

Nikhil insists on conducting Swati's autopsy and realizes this was DJ's work. Confronting DJ, Nikhil warns him not to turn into another Asur. DJ says he is unlike Asur but will go to any length ("burn down the forest") to kill the monster he created (when he falsified evidence to put teenaged Shubh in jail for murdering his father).

The episode begins with a flashback to Prayagraj, 12 years ago. At a library, Shubh overhears some scientists reaching a dead end while talking about neural networking. Shubh catches the attention of the lead scientist by sharing his knowledge and insight. While discussing human nature which the scientist finds unfathomable, Shubh says all humans are lowly, selfish and cruel, but no one wants to admit it. He also says that a predictive model can only be built when the past and the present are taken into consideration - just Lord Brahma viewed time in its stationary state. Impressed by his unconventional views, the scientist invites Shubh to join their research program on artificial intelligence. When asked by Shubh what he would do if he could see the future, the scientist says he'd prevent his assistant's suicice a few days ago. Unbeknownst to the scientist, one of Shubh's accomplishes had killed the assistant.

Ishani meets her end after Rasool shows her his true colours over a video call. Recalling Ishani's suspicions, Nikhil lashes out at Rasool, who is cool under questioning.

DJ & Naina use the captured Kesar's face to gain access to the portal, but are flooded with hundreds of hits. Kesar mocks DJ saying he'll never be able to stop the Asur's great deeds. The Asur hacks into DJ's control center and reveals his next victim.

Anant helps find a missing boy, reinforcing media interest in his miracles. In an interview he urges people to help each other to end their struggles.

DJ convinces Vrinda to help him understand Shubh, but the only helpful information she has is that Shubh met a professor and he was excited about the future. Nikhil's suspicions about Rasool reach DJ who is furious, because he considered Lolark his brother. His team digs deeper into Rasool's past, eventually finding DNA proof that Rasool is actually Balveer Suber, the third surviving accomplice who escapaed the jail fire with Shubh.

The lake murder victim is identified as Shalini who was a coder. Her laptop has analytical algorithms typically used in AI; Nikhil enlists Naina's help in understanding them.

The ballistic analysis Ishani ordered proves Rasool was lying about Lolark's death. DJ reaches out to the ATF taskforce with the DNA proof. Rasool goes underground and apologizes to a disappointed Asur for impulsively getting Ishani killed. Rasool calls DJ to taunt him and challenges him to save his favourite prodigy.

A mysterious man (Asur?) delivers a package at the RBI, following which the RBI Governor resigns.

Flashback: 10 years ago in Prayagraj, a young Kesar Bharadwaj, whose real name is Mukund Agnihotri, is heartbroken after his wife dies due to the drunk driving of a minister's son. He is thrashed by cops who threaten him to withdraw his case from the court. Defeated, he attempts to shoot himself but finds the gun empty. Shubh calls him at that moment encouraging him by saying he is not dead because his life's purpose has not been fulfilled. He was born to spread light amongst the oppressed. Shubh blows up the perpetrators' house while Mukund watches on video call and tells Mukund his death is mortgaged with him until his new life as Kesar Bharadwaj has served its purpose.

The ATF team searches Nusrat's car for clues; Nikhil finds sand in the backseat. Rasool's credit card statement leads them to an underground control center in an abandoned dumpyard in Delhi. Their arrival alerts Rasool who initiates a file transfer. They call in Naina who manages to halt the transfer.

The Asur calls Rasool, telling him to fix this fiasco he created and that "the ritual requires a great sacrifice". Rasool makes a conference call to the ATF team and DJ's team, offering Nusrat in exchange for Kesar and access to the file transfer. DJ is unwilling to budge despite caring for Nusrat, but Naina gives in to the demand.

Nikhil learns of Naina's involvement in Swati's death and is horrified, but she has no regrets.

CBI chief Awasthi tells Paul this case is indeed personal, and urges him and DJ to work together. However, Paul intends to arrest DJ after the exchange is over.

The data Naina reviewed has a keyword appearing frequently - Ashwatthama. She also finds additional clues using the links from the portal they had accessed earlier. Combined with a lead Nikhil found from the soil in Nusrat's car, they manage to pinpoint the location she is being held. Nikhil rushes to save her.

Nusrat's abductor forces her to choose between saving the life of an innocent stranger, and that of her sister who killed two innocent people while driving drunk. Crying, Nusrat chooses her sister and watches the innocent girl die. Nikhil arrives and captures the abductor.

At the hostage exchange point, Rasool asks Naina to destroy all the hard drives as the data has been transferred; she manages to swap one of them and destroys a fake.