In 1992, former chief justice Dhingra [Amitabh Bachchan] interviews the three leading members of Bombay's Anti-Terrorism Squad (ATS): Shamsher S. Khan, Kaviraj Patil and Javed Sheikh to defend them in their upcoming inquiry. Khan explains that he hand-picked 27 of Bombay Police's best enlisted men to help combat crime, borrowing the concept from the LAPD SWAT team. After Operation Blue Star in 1984, several Sikh extremists fled to Bombay and began establishing a base in the city, engaging in violence, extortion, and other subversive tactics. The death of his best officer at the hands of the extremists prompts Khan to obtain clearance from police commissioner Krishnamurthy to encounter those responsible for the officer's death. Khan asks journalist Meeta Mattoo Dia Mirza to cover the incident to deter future incidents.
Maya, Vivek Oberoi, the second-in-command of the gangster Dawood Ibrahim, runs the latter's criminal activities in Bombay with his gang. Maya's ambitions are fueled by his mother Amrita Singh, to the point where he wishes to assert his independence from Dubai and take over Bombay for himself. Khan's ATS focuses on Maya's gang after a police informant connects them to a string of murders in the city. The ATS encounters one of Maya's gang members, and Maya retaliates by killing the informant's relative. The ATS contacts the gang members' families to try and convince them to surrender, but the gang threatens and attempts to bribe the members of the ATS in return. Maya, meeting Khan, tells him to keep their families out of it.
When prominent city builder Wadhwani Shri Vallabh Vyas refuses to pay Maya Rs. 40 million in protection money, claiming to deal directly with Dubai, Maya kidnaps Wadhwani's son. Wadhwani complains to the boss, who asks Maya to return the child immediately. Maya refuses, stating that he has upped his demands and that he wants control of Bombay. Tipped off by an informant (who, Dhingra alleges, called from Dubai), Khan learns that Maya's gang is located at a flat in Swati building in Lokhandwala Complex, Andheri. In November 1991, the ATS lays siege on the building with a large force of police. The police kill Wadhwani's son, allowed to leave by Maya to see if any from his flat will be allowed to surrender. During the subsequent shootout, Maya's gang tries to escape by various means, contacting Dubai, bribing a senior officer to intervene on their behalf, and even firing a rocket-propelled grenade as a distraction, but fail. Maya and each member of his gang is eventually killed.
While critical of Khan and the ATS throughout the interview, during their inquiry, Dhingra defends them in court by pointing out that the likes of Khan are necessary to safeguard the public against criminals. Khan and the ATS are acquitted.
