How YouTuber Jyoti Malhotra Was Caught Spying For Pakistan — Charges, Suspicions and Investigation So Far

New Delhi: Jyoti Malhotra, a well-liked shuttle vlogger recognized for her YouTube channel ‘Travel with Jo’, has been arrested for allegedly spying for Pakistan along side six others. It all began when intelligence businesses reportedly spotted a suspicious trend in her world shuttle.

She visited Pakistan for 12 days in April 2024 below the pretext of exploring the rustic for her channel. What raised eyebrows was once her next go back and forth to China simply weeks later, the place she was once noticed frequenting luxurious retail outlets and travelling in pricey cars – a conduct that, as in line with safety businesses, gave the impression a long way past her way. It raised severe issues amongst safety businesses.

Following those crimson flags, surveillance on Malhotra intensified. Investigators, as claimed, came upon that she had bought her Pakistani visa by way of visiting the rustic’s embassy in New Delhi, the place she got here into touch with a person named Danish.

Their dating reportedly deepened over the years. In 2023, she was once granted a 10-day visa to Pakistan. There, she allegedly met operatives of Pakistan’s intelligence company.

According to resources, Malhotra stored one officer’s quantity below a pretend identify – Jatt Randhawa – to hide her connection. After returning to India, she is assumed to have began transmitting delicate data to Pakistani handlers via apps like WhatsApp, Telegram and Snapchat.

She was once arrested as a part of a broader crackdown by way of safety businesses that ended in the arrest of six people concerned within the alleged secret agent community. Among them had been Armaan from Nuh, Gazala (a widowed from Punjab’s Malerkotla), Yameen Mohammad and Devinder Singh Dhillon from Kaithal.

However, the highlight stays firmly on Malhotra, whose status as a YouTuber has became this situation into a countrywide speaking level.

Malhotra has been booked below Section 152 of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS) and Sections 3, 4, and 5 of the Official Secrets Act, 1923. These sections maintain espionage, conversation with international brokers and sharing confidential executive data and raise consequences starting from 3 years in jail to existence imprisonment.

Given the character of the fees, her possibilities of early liberate seem narrow. She has been put on a five-day police remand, and her cell phone, pc and different virtual gadgets had been seized for additional investigation.

Investigators additionally printed that Malhotra was once tasked with presenting a good symbol of Pakistan on Indian social media platforms. She was once allegedly in a detailed dating with a Person of Indian Origin (PIO) agent, with whom she lately spent every week in Bali, Indonesia. These connections are being scrutinised as a part of the increasing investigation.

Another side below evaluation is Malhotra’s conceivable hyperlink to the Pahalgam bloodbath. She had visited the area in December-January, simply ahead of her March 2024 go back and forth to Pakistan, prompting some to take a position whether or not there’s a deeper connection. However, no respectable affirmation has been equipped by way of businesses up to now.

While the investigation continues, the case has ignited debates on whether or not Malhotra was once a planned player in espionage or if she was once manipulated – perhaps below the guise of a romantic or ideological connection. Some even query whether or not she may had been a sufferer of so-called “love jihad”, even though government have now not commented in this attitude.

As extra layers spread, the arrest of Jyoti Malhotra highlights how virtual platforms and private networks are turning into new battlegrounds in world intelligence and the way even apparently extraordinary influencers can finally end up on the middle of high-stakes espionage operations.