Chandigarh: Haryana-based YouTuber Jyoti Malhotra, who is currently under police custody on espionage charges, had gone to Pakistan before the Pahalgam terrorist attack, Hisar SP Shashank Kumar Sawan said in a media briefing on Sunday.
The SP said that the YouTuber used to visit the neighbouring country on sponsored trips, and the Pakistani intelligence was developing her as their asset.
Malhotra had close ties with Danish, a Pakistani High Commission official in Delhi who was expelled from India. This was revealed from a video uploaded on her YouTube channel ‘Travel with JO’, and the same has been “confirmed by her” during interrogation.
The SP said that Malhotra was arrested on the basis of inputs received from Central agencies. She was in contact with the Pak spy agency ISI. “Police are looking into her bank accounts, mobile and laptop. Her expenses were much more than her income. Some other people active on social media are also being investigated in this case,” Sawan added.
Meanwhile, after finding Malhotra’s connection to Odisha-based YouTuber Priyanka Senapati, police went to Senapati’s house and questioned her. Malhotra visited Puri to meet Senapati in September 2024. According to Senapati’s father, his daughter had become Malhotra’s friend through YouTube.
It came to light that Malhotra had attended an Iftar party at the Pakistan Embassy on Pakistan’s National Day on March 23 last year. She had uploaded a video of this on her channel.
Danish was seen welcoming her in a “very friendly” manner at the embassy. In the video, both of them were seen talking to each other as if they knew each other “very closely”.
Travel blogger Malhotra came under the scrutiny of security agencies when she visited Pakistan and then China within two months last year. She went to Pakistan on a month-long tour on April 17, 2024. She remained in Pakistan till May 15, 2024. After that, she returned to India.
On June 10, 2024, just 25 days after returning from Pakistan, she went to China. She stayed in China till July 9, 2024, and then from there reached Kathmandu in Nepal on July 10, 2024.
“Earlier, when she went to Pakistan via the Kartarpur corridor, she met Punjab Chief Minister and former PM Nawaz Sharif’s daughter Maryam Nawaz Sharif and even interviewed her,” sources said.