YouTuber Jyoti Malhotra was in contact with people knowing that they were Pak intel operatives: Haryana Police

Hisar Superintendent of Police Shashank Kumar Sawan said that the accused was in contact with some people knowing that they are Pakistan Intelligence Operatives (PIOs). “But till now no such fact has come to light directly which can be said that the accused was in contact with any terrorist organization. No fact has come to light so far regarding the accused’s involvement in any terrorist incidents,” added the SP.

The SP said the police seized three mobile phones, a laptop and some other electronic devices from the accused.

Along with this, Harkirat, a resident of Kurukshetra, was also called for questioning. Harkirat provides visa services. Police seized two mobile phones from Harkirat. Harkirat has not been arrested yet. The mobile phones, laptops and electronic devices recovered from Jyoti and Harkirat have been sent to the forensic lab for investigation where analysis is going on. The result of the analysis has not been handed over to the Hisar Police yet.

SP Sawan said that no comment can be made about Malhotra’s WhatsApp chats as of now. The Hisar SP also made it cleat that the entire case is being investigated by Hisar Police and the accused is in the custody of Hisar Police. Some central investigation agencies are questioning the accused from time to time but the custody of the accused has not been handed over to any of these agencies.

“No facts have yet emerged about the accused having access to any military, defence or strategic information. In-depth analysis of the accused’s 4 bank accounts is going on. No comment can be made about the money transactions as of now,” he added.

Malhotra has a YouTube channel called Travel with Jo with over 3,77,000 subscribers and an Instagram account with over 1,32,000 followers.

“She visited Pakistan multiple times and also went to China once. We are analysing her financial transactions and travel details. She was in touch with PIOs (Pakistan Intelligence Operatives). She did not have direct access to military or defence information, though Hisar is a strategic location,” the SP had stated earlier.

Sawan said one of her Pakistan visits was “sponsored”. “She met some high-profile persons during the visit. Why and what information was shared; all these things are being probed.”

The police also said she possibly “fell into a trap for views and likes” and “her travel details show more expenses than her known sources of income”.

Malhotra is among 12 people who have been arrested from Punjab, Haryana and Uttar Pradesh over the past two weeks on charges of espionage, with investigators suspecting the presence of a Pakistan-linked spy network operating in north India.

Meanwhile, YouTuber Navankur Chaudhary, another person under scrutiny for espionage, has said that he was ready to fully cooperate with any investigation agency and asserted that a fake narrative was being spread against him.
Chaudhary, who hails from Rohtak, has also claimed that Malhotra had met him as a fan at an event at Pakistan High Commission.

“I did not know Jyoti personally before that day. I had never met her earlier,” he said.

In a video on X, Chaudhary, who runs the YouTube channel ‘Yatri Doctor’, said he has visited Pakistan just once.
His father said on Wednesday, “A media trial is going on. Our entire family is going through a tough time. I am a bank employee, but have been unable to attend office due to this. Both me and his (Navankur) mother have not had food for the past two days.” The man added, “So far, he has visited 144 countries and his objective is to visit the entire world and he visited Pakistan once. At present, he is in Ireland.”