Yes, certainly it could be original. If you are not there watching at the time it is done, anything is possible.
However, it is a recognised method of repair, and the way in which it is done can vary from craftsman to craftsman, and in accordance with the nature of the defect. It is not exclusive to this style of handle, but can be found on other handles as well, for example, Javanese handles.
The reason horn is used rather than wood is twofold:- firstly, it is an artistic principle that when you must disguise or eliminate a flaw, one of the most effective ways to do so is to make a virtue of that flaw, thus, when you remove the checked wood, you do not try to blend and hide, you highlight the replacement as a feature.
The second reason is that horn is stronger and more stable than wood. If you cut a selut from a piece of wood it is very probable that the replacement wood will crack and split in a very short period of time. With horn you are actually improving the handle, both in strength, and in beauty.
The reasons that this repair is done are that it is much, much cheaper to make a selut than it is to make a new handle, additionally, if a handle has a particularly nice grain, why would anybody get rid of it, if it can be effectively repaired?
When this part of a handle checks, the opening of the crack on the outside of the handle is very much wider than it is on the inside, next to the hole for the pesi, in fact, sometimes by the time the crack gets down to the pesi hole, it is virtually non-existant.
Another method of repair for these cracks is to bind this part of the handle with silver or copper plaited wire. You most often see this on an ivory handle.
I have had a very large number of handles like this through my hands, and I myself have commissioned this repair to be done many times. As I write I am looking at a badly cracked Bugis handle that will have the same repair done to it in a few weeks time, provided I can get a large enough piece of solid black horn, which is not always that easy in Central Jawa these days.
I agree that there is a possibility that Lew's handle was like this from the day it was made. However, in my experience this is a very slight possibility. The probability is that the horn is a repair.
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