CUTTPUTLLI is the story of a cop trying to catch a serial killer. Arjan Sethi (Akshay Kumar), 36, is based in Parwanoo, Himachal Pradesh. He has passionately researched about serial killers and he wants to make a film on this topic. He approaches several Punjabi filmmakers in Chandigarh. However, all of them decline his idea and instead, advise him to make a comedy. He then goes to Kasuali to meet his sister Seema (Hrishitaa Bhatt), brother-in-law Narinder Singh (Chandrachur Singh) and niece Payal (Renaye Tejani) on Raksha Bandhan. Narinder is a cop and he insists that Arjan should give up his filmmaking dreams and join the police force.

Arjan and Seema’s father is a deceased cop and hence, he’ll easily get a chance to become one. Realizing that his aim to make a serial killer film is not getting fulfilled, Arjan agrees. He becomes a Sub-inspector and joins a police station where the SHO is Gudiya Parmar (Sargun Mehta). A few days later, the cops get the information that a schoolgirl named Amrita Rana (Saina Anarose) has gone missing. She was presumably abducted from outside her house. The killer leaves behind a gift box which has the mutilated head of a doll. Arjan realizes that the way the doll’s head is mutilated is very similar to how the face of a girl named Samiksha Bharti was mutilated. This girl was found murdered in Parwanoo and Arjan had gathered information about her out of habit. He tells SHO Parmar that the Parwanoo schoolgirl killer has kidnapped Amrita. Parmar dismisses his theory.

A few minutes later, the cops get a call that Amrita’s body has been found near a railway track. The cops now take Arjan seriously as they realize that a serial killer is on the loose and is looking for his next target. Some days later, a third girl, Komal (Laaibah Ali), goes missing. Thanks to Divya (Rakul Preet Singh), a teacher at Komal’s school, Arjan finds out that Komal was seen hailing an auto. Arjan hunts down the auto-rickshaw. The driver blurts out that he didn’t kill Komal and that he took her to the house of Purshottam Tomar (Sujith Shanker), who happens to be the maths teacher in Payal’s school. Pushottam is nabbed and it comes to light that he sexually harasses his students. However, Purshottam denies killing Komal though the evidence is against him. While Purshottam is in custody, the killer strikes again. This time, he abducts none other than Payal. And like every time, he leaves behind the box containing the mutilated doll’s head. The killer usually kills the victim two days after the kidnapping. Arjan now has 48 hours to find the serial killer before he fatally harms Payal. What happens next forms the rest of the film.

Cuttputlli Cast & Crew