Travel YouTuber Jyoti Malhotra has been arrested in Hisar, Haryana, for allegedly being part of a spy network linked to Pakistan. She was accused of passing sensitive information to Pakistan’s intelligence agency, ISI. Malhotra has 377,000 subscribers on YouTube and 132,000 Instagram followers.
She was booked under Sections 3, 4, and 5 of the Official Secrets Act, 1923, and Section 152 of the BNS. The police sent her to five days of custody after she reportedly confessed. The Economic Offences Wing is currently investigating the case.
According to the FIR, Malhotra stayed in touch with her Pakistani handlers through apps like WhatsApp, Telegram, and Snapchat. She allegedly shared details that could harm India’s national security. The police stated that she travelled to Pakistan three times and posted videos from her visits on social media.
Officials say she came into contact with Ehsan-ur-Rahim, also known as Danish, a staffer at the Pakistan High Commission in Delhi, in 2023. He allegedly became her handler and introduced her to other ISI agents.
During questioning, Malhotra said she had been part of a delegation to Pakistan in 2023 and visited twice that year. She met operatives named Rana Shahbaz, Shakir, and Ali Ehwan. To avoid suspicion, she saved their numbers under false names like “Jatt Randhawa,” according to the police.
She also visited Bali and Indonesia with one of the operatives. Authorities believe she was part of a wider spy network operating in Punjab and Haryana. So far, six people have been arrested in the case.
Officials said Malhotra acted like a travel vlogger, but used her platform to project Pakistan in a positive light while ignoring terrorism from across the border. They claimed this was a tactic to influence Indian viewers. In one of her videos, she is seen telling a Pakistani woman, “Hindustani Pakistani Behen Behen.”