Where is TRF chief Sheikh Sajjad Gul now? Terrorist once pursued a lab technician course in Kerala

Officials have confirmed that Sheikh Sajjad Gul, 50, is the key mastermind of the deadly Pahalgam terror attack that killed 26 people on April 22. Gul is the chief of The Resistance Front (TRF), the proxy of Pakistan-based Lashkar-e-Taiba, which carried out the attack.

Where is Sheikh Sajjad Gul now?

TRF leader Sheikh Sajjad Gul alias Sajjad Ahmed Sheikh is reportedly hiding in Rawalpindi, Pakistan. He enjoys the protection of Pakistani espionage agency ISI with the support of Lashkar-e-Taiba.

The Kashmir native did his schooling in Srinagar and later went to Bengaluru for MBA. He then went to Kerala to pursue a lab technician course. After returning, he set up a diagnostic lab in Kashmir.

Not long after, Gul turned an overground worker for the LeT and provided them with logistic support. He is said to be behind several terror attacks in Jammu and Kashmir in the past six years. These included grenade attacks in Kashmir in 2023 and the Z-Morh Tunnel attack in Ganderbal in 2024.

In 2002, Delhi Police Special Cell arrested Gul at Nizamuddin Railway Station for possession of 5 kg of RDX and for plotting serial blasts in Delhi. He was convicted in 2003 and sentenced to 10 years before being released in 2017.

Gul soon fled to Pakistan. ISI then installed him at the helm of The Resistance Front, which was formed in 2019. In April 2022, the NIA had designated him a terrorist and put a Rs 10 lakh reward on him.

India