Arrested LeT terrorist paused operations for hair transplant in Srinagar

A Lashkar-e-Taiba operative arrested in Jammu and Kashmir revealed during interrogation that he paused terror activities for a hair transplant in Srinagar. The NIA is probing his role in infiltration, sleeper cells, and an interstate terror network operating across North India

Srinagar: Infiltrating Jammu and Kashmir to execute terror attacks for the banned Lashkar-e-Taiba (LET), a Pakistani terrorist paused his operations to fulfil a personal dream — getting a hair transplant. Mohammed Usman Jatt, alias ‘Chinese’, told interrogators that he found life in Kashmir completely different from what he had been tutored in terrorist training camps and went for hairline restoration in Srinagar after learning about it from a shop owner, officials said here on Sunday.

The case is being probed by the National Investigation Agency (NIA). During interrogation, Jatt spoke about his entry into Jammu and Kashmir through the northern part of the valley as well as the places where he had spent time, the officials said.

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A resident of Lahore and a trained operative of the banned terrorist outfit Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT), Jutt said he had crossed the border with instructions to execute a series of attacks. He was involved in terror activities in north and central Kashmir, the officials said.

However, he claimed during interrogation that his objectives shifted entirely after he witnessed the reality of daily life in Kashmir which was completely contrary to what they had been told during Lashkar training across the border.

Jatt, known within terror circles by his alias “Chinese”, was arrested early last month by the Srinagar Police alongside Abdullah, alias Abu Hureira, the longest-surviving Lashkar-e-Taiba terrorist. The duo had been tasked with setting up sleeper terror bases outside Jammu and Kashmir. The case was subsequently handed over to the NIA due to its national and international ramifications.

The arrested terrorist said that he had been dealing with severe hair loss for years, an issue that had deeply impacted his self-esteem. While he had previously heard about hair restoration procedures, he believed they were a distant luxury available only in the West.

The officials said during his stay in the upper hills of Srinagar, he was introduced to Pakistani terrorists Zargam and Abdullah alias ‘Abu Huriera’. He also spoke about the various people with whom he had stayed, which led the Srinagar police to bust the entire racket of Over Ground Workers (OGWs) of the terror group operating in North Kashmir and Srinagar city.

While giving details about the OGW network, the arrested terrorist said Zargam took him to a shop and conveyed that the owner was a reliable person. During his conversation with the owner, Jutt learned that he had undergone a hair transplant.

Thereafter, the terrorist continued to visit the shop owner and persuaded him to help him get a hair transplant. He was finally taken for the procedure within the city, the officials said, adding that at times he had to stay overnight in the clinic for the procedure.

After his procedure was over, Jutt, who had already tied up with ‘Abu Huriera’, took a passenger vehicle to Jammu and later a sleeper bus to Punjab on his way to Malerkotla. There, he spent time watching Turkish shows and attempted to learn English, according to officials.

The arrested terrorist told his interrogators that he wanted to make a genuine Aadhar card, PAN card and eventually a passport to escape from India like Umar alias ‘Khargosh’ (rabbit), who managed to get a passport and has since fled to Indonesia, from where he is believed to have used another forged travel document and stationed himself somewhere in a Gulf country, the officials said. Umar, a resident of Karachi in Pakistan, had infiltrated into India after 2012 and fled using the forged passport procured from Jaipur in Rajasthan in 2024, the officials said.

This unearthing of an interstate LeT module comes nearly six months after the ‘Al Falah module’ was busted in November 2025 by the Srinagar police which unravelled a network comprising highly educated professionals, mostly doctors, who had been radicalised to carry out terrorist activities. One of the accused was the Al Falah University’s Dr Umer-un Nabi, who was driving the explosives-laden car that detonated outside the Red Fort on November 10 last year, killing more than a dozen people.