Jyoti Malhotra, a travel influencer from Punjab, is the latest among five others who were arrested for “spying and sharing confidential information about the Indian Army to Pakistan Intelligence officers.”
Police said she had been booked under the relevant sections of the Official Secrets Act and the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita. She was produced in court and was sent to a five-day police remand.
With her arrest, a photo of Jyoti at the Pakistan High Commission Office went viral on social media, accusing her of sharing confidential information with him during the Army strikes against Pakistan. She is alleged to have contacts from Pakistan High Commission officers saved in her phone under different names, and to have shared information with one of the Pakistan High Commission officers, Danish, whose photo she has shared in her vlog along with several others. The Indian authorities sent him back on May 13, after the abrasions began between the two countries.
The actual footage behind the image is also uploaded to her YouTube channel, which has more than 30,ooo subscribers. In it, she amiably asks him about his engagement and clicks a photo with another influencer. The vlog mentions that it is an Iftar party at the Pakistan Embassy, which harboured a varied range of people, mostly Sikhs. The Gurudwara in-charges to ‘swamis’ from Prayagraj, she addresses with Jai Shree Ram. She is also seen capturing the food, women and other officials. Talking to one of them, she says, “Let’s hope that the coordination between the two countries will improve.”
Jyoti, who runs a YouTube channel called Travelwithjo, posts videos of her trips to several countries, including Thailand, Singapore, Bhutan, Bali, Jakarta, and Indonesia. She often engages the people around her during vlogging, has conversations, shares information on important places and institutions, and involves people, drivers, guards, and officers on her way.
In 2023, Jyoti Malhotra met Ehsan-Ur-Rehman to arrange her visa, and since then, she has been in contact with him and his acquaintance, Ali Ahwan. The FIR lodged by the Civil Lines Police Station on May 16 says she has contacted Pakistani Intelligence Officers through WhatsApp, Snapchat and Telegram.
A year ago, she posted multiple videos and shorts of her trips to Pakistan, in which she describes the itinerary, the immigration process, and talking to people on the trip, at the Wagha border, and the Railway Station. She has visited Pakistan twice.
“There is no one here who will not wave their hands to bid you goodbye,” She says in one of her train journeys, when she captured the people waving hellos standing along the railway tracks in Lahore.
“Your voice and the smile on your face are telling how happy you are after travelling to Pakistan, yes, we are also feeling good.”
These are a few remarks in the comment sections of the videos she has uploaded about her journey to Pakistan via train from the Wagha border to Lahore.
A year later, one of the comments posted three weeks ago under one of the videos after the Pahalgam attack says, “Hello Madam, you have a hand in today’s attack in Pahalgam, you are responsible for it, think about it yourself, you are being watched.”
The vlogs that capture her trip to Pakistan display a less-seen side of Pakistani individuals, officials, and women in their duties, as well as the Sikh groups living and sharing administrative purposes. Footage shows Sikh Yatrees inviting the Langars to the Nanakana Sahib Gurudwara.
Another one shows a school run by a Pakistani woman and a Sikh person, in which the woman appreciates the woman’s being young and a Principal.
Jyoti Malhotra was arrested at New Aggarsain Extension after the Punjab Police also arrested two others earlier for similar charges.
