A Pakistani terrorist who infiltrated Jammu and Kashmir to carry out attacks for the banned Lashkar-e-Taiba paused his operations to get a hair transplant, investigators were quoted as saying by news agency PTI.
Mohammed Usman Jatt, also known as “Chinese,” told interrogators that life in Kashmir was completely different from what he had been taught in terrorist training camps, according to officials. He learned about hairline restoration from a shop owner in Srinagar and underwent the procedure in the city, the officials said Sunday.
The National Investigation Agency is probing the case.
Jatt, a Lahore resident and trained Lashkar-e-Taiba operative, crossed the border with instructions to execute a series of attacks and was involved in terrorist activities in northern and central Kashmir, officials said. But his objectives shifted after witnessing daily life in Kashmir, which contradicted what he had been told during training across the border, he said during interrogation.
Jatt was arrested early last month by Srinagar police alongside Abdullah, also known as Abu Hureira, the longest-surviving Lashkar-e-Taiba terrorist. The two had been tasked with setting up sleeper terror bases outside Jammu and Kashmir. The case was transferred to the NIA because of its national and international implications.
The terrorist as per news agency PTI said he had dealt with severe hair loss for years, which deeply affected his self-esteem. While he had heard about hair restoration procedures, he believed they were only available in the West.
During his stay in the upper hills of Srinagar, he was introduced to Pakistani terrorists Zargam and Abdullah. He also spoke about the people with whom he had stayed, leading Srinagar police to dismantle a network of overground workers for the terror group operating in North Kashmir and Srinagar city, officials said.
Jatt said Zargam took him to a shop and told him the owner was reliable. During a conversation with the owner, Jatt learned the owner had undergone a hair transplant. Jatt continued visiting the shop owner and persuaded him to help arrange the procedure. He was taken for the procedure within the city and at times stayed overnight at the clinic, officials said.
After the procedure, Jatt, who had already teamed up with Abdullah, took a passenger vehicle to Jammu and then a sleeper bus to Punjab on his way to Malerkotla. There, he watched Turkish shows and tried to learn English, according to officials.
Jatt told interrogators he wanted to obtain a genuine Aadhar card, PAN card and eventually a passport to flee India like Umar, also known as “Khargosh” (rabbit), who secured a passport and fled to Indonesia. From there, Umar is believed to have used another forged document and settled in a Gulf country, officials said. Umar, a Karachi resident, had infiltrated into India after 2012 and fled in 2024 using a forged passport obtained in Jaipur, Rajasthan.
The uncovering of this interstate Lashkar-e-Taiba module comes about six months after the “Al Falah module” was busted in November 2025 by Srinagar police, which revealed a network of highly educated professionals, mostly doctors, who had been radicalized to carry out terrorist activities.
One of the accused, Al Falah University’s Dr. Umer-un Nabi, was driving the explosives-laden car that detonated outside the Red Fort on Nov. 10, killing more than a dozen people.
