Chandigarh:
Pakistani intelligence operatives were developing Haryana YouTuber Jyoti Malhotra, who was arrested on espionage charges, as an asset, a senior Haryana police officer claimed on Sunday.
She was allegedly in touch with a Pakistani officer posted at the Pakistan High Commission in New Delhi during the four-day military conflict between India and Pakistan that followed the April 22 terror attack in Pahalgam, the officer said.
Hisar Superintendent of Police Shashank Kumar Sawan said Malhotra did not have any direct access to any information related to the military or defence operations which could be said at this stage that she could have shared.
But she was directly in touch with PIOs, he said addressing mediapersons in Hisar, Haryana.
“Certainly, they were developing her as an asset. She was in touch with other YouTube influencers. They were also in touch with PIOs,” the SP said.
“This is also (a kind of) warfare, in which they try to push their narrative by recruiting influencers,” he said.
Hisar-based Malhotra (33), who runs a YouTube channel, ‘Travel with JO’, was arrested from New Aggarsain Extension on Friday, they said.
She has been booked under relevant sections of the Official Secrets Act and the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, police said.
She was sent to a five-day police remand after being produced before the court on Saturday.
SP Sawan told reporters that Malhotra is being questioned by Haryana Police. “We are analysing her financial transactions, travel details, where she went and whom she met,” he said, adding that the police are also in touch with the central agencies.
The officer said Malhotra was in touch with PIOs, and that she has visited Pakistan “multiple times” and China once.
Asked about any information on her movements during the Pahalgam terror attack and whether she was in contact with the Pakistani officer posted at the Pakistani High Commission during Operation Sindoor, the SP said during the (India-Pakistan) conflict, she was “in touch with the PIOs and the person who was declared persona non grata”.
“We will do a forensic analysis of her laptop and other electronic gadgets. It will then be clear what information she shared,” he said. While she did not have any access to information on military operations, she was directly in touch with PIOs, he added.
He added that multiple teams of financial experts were analysing her financial transactions and travel details.
The officer said she has been to Pakistan on what appeared to be “a sponsored trip”. In one of her videos, she was requesting a visa to visit China, he said.
The SP said she went to Kashmir before the Pahalgam attack and visited Pakistan before that, and added that police are also trying to establish the “link” between these visits.
Sawan said she was allegedly also in touch with other YouTube influencers. “They were also in touch with PIOs,” he said.
“Through her, we are also investigating other Indian contacts. We have got some leads that some more could be involved.
Police are trying to look into who were being provided with “information”, he said.
Odisha Police have started an investigation into the alleged links between a Puri-based YouTuber and Jyoti Malhotra. The state’s police said on Sunday that Malhotra allegedly visited Puri in September 2024 and came in contact with a female YouTuber from the coastal town.
Asked about one of Malhotra’s videos in which she could be seen visiting the Pakistani Embassy on March 28, 2024, the SP said, “Socialisation is allowed but one should understand their intentions. Pakistan is not a not a normal country for us.” “Undertaking multiple visits, doing socialisation with them and remaining in touch with them during the conflict and exchanging favours, it endangers the unity and sovereignty of the country,” he said.
He said Malhotra had allegedly met some high-profile people in Pakistan. “Why did she meet them and what information she shared with them — all of this will be asked,” he said, adding that she has been on the radar of intelligence agencies for quite some time.
The SP refused to share details of any chat between Danish and Malhotra, saying it was a sensitive matter. “We are investigating the case from all angles,” he added.
Malhotra, whose YouTube channel and Instagram account have 3.77 lakh subscribers and 1.33 lakh followers respectively, allegedly was in contact with the Pakistani staffer working at the Pakistan High Commission in Delhi.
In 2023, Malhotra came in contact with Ehsan-ur-Rahim alias Danish at the Pakistan High Commission where she went to seek a visa to visit the neighbouring nation, according to an FIR lodged at Civil Lines Police Station on May 16.
Malhotra, who visited Pakistan twice, had met Danish’s acquaintance Ali Ahwan who arranged her stay there, the FIR read.
She met Danish several times at the Pakistan High Commission in Delhi and was found to be in touch with PIOs, it said. Ahwan arranged Jyoti’s meeting with Pakistani security and intelligence officials. She was in contact with them through WhatsApp, Telegram and Snapchat, and passed on sensitive information, according to the FIR.
On May 13, India expelled the Pakistani official working at the High Commission for allegedly indulging in espionage. Later on Friday, Malhotra was arrested in Hisar.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
