Jyoti Malhotra, a 33-year-old from Hisar, Haryana, was arrested on May 16 on suspicions of spying for Pakistan. She ran a YouTube channel called 'Travel with Jo' with 387,000 subscribers. Authorities charged her under the Official Secrets Act and BNS sections.
The NIA, IB, and Military Intelligence teams are interrogating her. The police reveal that Jyoti has traveled to Pakistan, China, and other countries, and they are trying to piece together her travel links. They said her known income sources do not justify her foreign travels, prompting a probe into her financial dealings.
Hisar SP Shashank Kumar Sawan stated that Pakistan's intelligence agencies were grooming Jyoti as an asset. During the four-day military tension following April's Pahalgam terrorist attack, she was in contact with Ehsan-ur-Raheem, aka Danish, an official stationed at the Pakistani High Commission.
Additionally, the SP highlighted that modern espionage goes beyond borders, with Pakistani agencies targeting social media influencers. Investigations continue into potential connections between her trips to Kashmir and Pakistan. Presently, her laptop is undergoing forensic analysis, and interrogations of associated individuals are ongoing.
