Haryana YouTuber Hugged By Cops Who Claim She Was Groomed As A Pak Asset. How She Was Lured

New Delhi:

Jyoti Malhotra’s transformation from a travel YouTuber to a Pakistani spy has uncovered a new battlefield of warfare in the modern age, where intelligence agencies recruit an influencer from a foreign country and deploy them to influence narratives. It is also a tale of how greed for easy money and a life of luxury brought an influencer to the path of unwary adventures. The YouTuber was detained on Friday on charges of espionage and sent to custody for five days.

The Race of Influencers

With the Covid pandemic, the world of content creation has become saturated and competitive. With more and more individuals jumping into content creation with aspirations to be an influencer, they are caught in the vicious race for ‘likes’ and views. In order to maintain the pace, they need to make new content regularly. And for that, they require resources and connections.

Jyoti Malhotra, who is 33, has 3.85 lakh subscribers for her YouTube channel ‘Travel With Jo’. Her bio calls her “Nomadic Leo Girl, Wanderer Haryanvi + Punjabi” and a “modern woman with old-school ideas”. Her YouTube account features videos and reels of travels wherein she explains her experiences.

Jyoti Malhotra’s Pak Link

She had travelled to roughly eight countries, such as China and Pakistan. Over time, Jyoti interacted with Pakistani information officers and was being groomed as an asset, police have alleged.

Jyoti Malhotra did not get any direct input to any information concerning the military or defence operations that she would have been able to pass on to anyone, but she remained in contact with Pakistani officials, according to Hisar’s Superintendent of Police Shashank Kumar Sawan. “Certainly, they were grooming her as an asset. She was in contact with other YouTube influencers. They were also in contact with PIOs (public information officers),” the top cop informed the press. “This is also (a form of) warfare, wherein they attempt to impose their narrative by enlisting influencers.”

How She Met Pak Officer

Jyoti Malhotra had contact with Pakistani officer Danish stationed at the Pakistan High Commission in New Delhi during the four-day military stand-off after India responded to the Pahalgam terror attack that claimed the lives of 26 innocents with Operation Sindoor, the officer said.

Her repeated visits to Pakistan put her in the spotlight. Her phones and other devices have also been confiscated by police as part of their investigation into her connections. She visited the Pakistani embassy in March last year and posted a video. “Socialisation is permissible, but one needs to know their intentions. Pakistan is not an ordinary country for us. Making several visits, socialising and staying in contact with them during the war and swapping favours jeopardises the country’s unity and sovereignty,” Mr Sawan said.

The Pak Meetings

Jyoti has informed police that Danish befriended her on their first meeting and they began conversing over the telephone. In 2023, she was granted a 10-day visa to travel to Pakistan. Danish requested her to meet his friend, Ali Ahwaan, who made arrangements for her travel and lodging. Jyoti Malhotra attended high-profile parties in Pakistan, police have discovered.

“In Pakistan, Ali Ahwan organized a meeting with Pakistani security and intelligence personnel and I met Shakir and Rana Shahbaz. I saved Shakir’s mobile number and put it in my phone with the name of ‘Jat Randhawa’ to keep it under cover. Later, I returned to India and stayed in continuous contact with all the above individuals through apps like WhatsApp, Snapchat and Telegram and began sharing information,” officials quoted Malhotra as having said.

The Money Trail

The police officer revealed that police are examining Jyoti Malhotra. “We are looking at her financial dealings, travel history, where she has been and who she met,” he said, adding that Haryana police is also in touch with central agencies. Police have also established that Jyoti Malhotra leads a luxurious life, not commensurate with her earnings and are probing this angle as well. She used to travel first class on flights, live in luxurious hotels and eat at expensive restaurants. Police added that she seems to have made a “sponsored trip” to Pakistan.

Soon after coming back from Pakistan, where she was accorded VIP treatment, Jyoti Malhotra went to China. In China also, she was travelling in luxury cars and shopping at costly jewellery stores. The extravagant journeys and clandestine meetings kept the YouTuber in the radar of security.

Pahalgam and Op Sindoor

On May 13, India expelled Danish for allegedly indulging in espionage. Two days later, Jyoti was arrested. Asked if the YouTuber spoke to her Pakistani contacts during Operation Sindoor, the police officer said she was “in touch with the PIOs and the person who was declared persona non grata”. “We will do a forensic test on her laptop and other electronic devices. It will then become apparent what information she posted,” he explained. She was asking in one of her videos for a visa to come to China, he explained. Jyoti traveled to Kashmir prior to the attack at Pahalgam and to Pakistan prior to that, Mr Sawan said. He added police are also attempting to determine whether there was a connection between these excursions.

Jyoti May Not Be Alone

Police have indicated that Jyoti Malhotra may be among a number of influencers who were in contact with Pakistani authorities. “We are also exploring other Indian contacts through her. We have leads that more may be involved. Odisha Police are probing a Puri YouTuber whom Jyoti Malhotra had met when she visited the sea coast temple town last year.“.

Puri police superintendent Vinit Agrawal has stated that the facts are being checked by the police. “Once verification is done, we will present all the facts. In addition to this, we are in contact with various agencies of various states, central agencies, Haryana Police and we shall share anything they require from us.”

Priyanka Senapati, the YouTuber Jyoti from Puri who met, has claimed that she was not aware of her having alleged charges against her. “Jyoti was just a friend and I got in touch with her on YouTube. I had no idea about the serious allegations against her. If I knew she was a spy for an enemy nation, I would have never been in touch with her,” she posted.

What Jyoti’s Father Said

Jyoti’s father Haris Malhotra mentioned that she had gone to Pakistan to record YouTube videos and traveled after taking required permissions. “She would come to Pakistan and other destinations to record YouTube videos,” said Mr Malhotra to ANI. Replying to charges that she was in contact with Pakistani authorities, he stated, “If she has some friends there, can’t she call them? I have no demands, but give us our phones. A case has been registered against us.” The YouTuber has been booked under the Official Secrets Act and pertinent provisions of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita.