Jyoti Malhotra, a YouTuber and travel vlogger from Hisar, has been arrested by the police for allegedly spying for Pakistan. She was taken into custody from her home in New Agarsain Extension after an investigation by intelligence agencies and the CIA staff.
Jyoti’s father, Harish Malhotra, said she had official permission to visit Pakistan and claimed she is being wrongly accused.
According to Hisar DSP Kamaljeet, Jyoti was taken to court on Saturday and sent to police custody for five days. The FIR filed at Hisar Civil Lines Police Station says Jyoti runs a YouTube channel called Travel with Jo. She allegedly made contact with Pakistani nationals and intelligence officials during two trips to Pakistan in 2023.
The FIR says Jyoti first went to the Pakistan High Commission in Delhi for a visa, where she met a man named Ahsan-Ur-Rahim (also known as Danish). She stayed in regular contact with him and later met a person named Ali Ahwan in Pakistan. He arranged her stay and helped her meet officers from Pakistan’s intelligence services.
Jyoti also met two other people, Shakir and Rana Shahbaz, and saved their numbers under fake names in her phone. After returning to India, she kept talking to them through WhatsApp, Snapchat, and Telegram. She is accused of sharing sensitive information that could harm India’s national security.
One of the people she stayed in touch with, Ahsan-Ur-Rahim, was declared “persona non grata” (banned from India) by the Indian government on May 13 for spying. Her ongoing connection with him is a key part of the case.
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