'Hair loss impacted my self-esteem': LeT terrorist says he went for transplant in India

NEW DELHI: A Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) terrorist from Pakistan, who was arrested last month by the Srinagar Police after infiltrating into India, has told interrogators that he found life in the Valley completely different from what he had been taught in terrorist training camps, and even underwent hair restoration treatment as he had been dealing with severe hair loss for years.

Mohammed Usman Jatt, alias "Chinese," told National Investigation Agency (NIA) officials that he had been tasked with carrying out terror attacks in India by setting up sleeper cells outside Jammu and Kashmir.

During questioning, he also revealed that he had undergone a hair transplant in Srinagar after crossing over.

According to Jutt, a Lahore native, his objectives “shifted entirely” after he witnessed the reality of daily life in Kashmir. He said 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 arrested terrorist told interrogators that during his stay in the upper hills of Srinagar, he was introduced to Pakistani terrorists Zargam and Abdullah alias “Abu Huraira.” Zargam later took him to a shop, where, during a conversation with the owner, Jutt learned that the man had undergone a hair transplant.

Thereafter, the terrorist continued visiting the shop owner and finally managed to convince him to help arrange a transplant. The LeT operative was eventually taken to a clinic in Srinagar, where the procedure was carried out.

After the procedure, Jutt and “Abu Huraira” boarded a passenger vehicle to Jammu and later took a sleeper bus to Malerkotla, Punjab. There, he spent time watching Turkish television shows and trying to learn English, according to officials.

The Lahore native also revealed that he wanted to obtain genuine Aadhaar and PAN cards, and eventually a passport, to escape from India like Umar alias “Khargosh” (rabbit), who managed to secure a passport and flee to Indonesia. From there, "Khargosh" is believed to have used another forged travel document to relocate to a Gulf country.

Umar, a resident of Karachi in Pakistan, had infiltrated into India after 2012 and fled using a forged passport procured from Jaipur, Rajasthan, in 2024.

The unearthing of this interstate Lashkar module comes nearly six months after the Srinagar Police busted the “Al Falah module” in November 2025, uncovering a network comprising highly educated professionals, mostly doctors, who had allegedly been radicalised to carry out terrorist activities.

One of the accused was Al Falah University’s Dr Umer-un Nabi, who was driving the explosives-laden car that detonated outside Red Fort on November 10 last year, killing more than a dozen people.

(With PTI inputs)