3 min readThiruvananthapuramJul 8, 2025 05:16 AM IST
First published on: Jul 7, 2025 at 05:04 PM IST
A visit to Kerala by YouTuber Jyoti Malhotra, who was arrested on May 16 by the Haryana police on charges of spying for Pakistan, on the state government’s invitation, has spiralled into a political row, with the BJP seeking the resignation of Kerala’s tourism minister.
“RTI reveals Pakistani spy Jyoti Malhotra visited Kerala on Left government invite and was state guest in a sense courtesy Tourism Department. So Bharat Mata is blocked and Pak spies are given red carpet by Left? Tourism Minister Mohammad Riyas is son-in-law of (CM Pinarayi) Vijayan. He should be sacked and investigated,” BJP national spokesperson Shehzad Jai Hind posted on X on Monday.
On Sunday, Tourism Minister P A Mohamed Riyas told the media that vloggers like Jyoti were brought to Kerala with good intentions. “No government will deliberately bring a spy to the state at its expense,” Riyas said.
Senior BJP leader K Surendran also out at the ruling government: “Pak-spy Jyoti Malhotra’s Kannur trip was sponsored by Kerala tourism, run by none other than Pinarayi Vijayan’s son-in-law. Why is Kerala rolling out a red carpet for a Pak-linked spy.”
Jyoti’s channel, Travel with Jo, had a sizable following on YouTube and Instagram, capturing her trips to various locations. The Kerala trip videos were posted in January this year.
She was invited to Kerala by the tourism department, which met her expenses during the Kerala sojourn. It was part of the department’s tourism promotion activities outside the state.
It was Jyoti’s two visits to Pakistan – the first in April 2024, when she took a train from Wagah to Lahore, and the other in March this year, over a month before the Pahalgam terror attack – that brought her under official scrutiny, and led to her arrest. According to the police, she allegedly told them that it was in 2023, during a visit to the Pakistan High Commission in Delhi for a travel visa, that she met Ahsan-ur-Rahim alias Danish, a now-expelled official at the commission. Danish was declared persona non-grata and expelled from India on May 13 after he was accused of spying.
The Hisar Police has alleged that she was found sharing “sensitive information” with an official of the Pakistan High Commission in Delhi.
Jyoti was one of 41 vloggers hired by the tourism department from January 1, 2024, to May 21, 2025, to promote state tourism. She visited Kannur, Kozhikode, Kochi, Alappuzha and Munnar between January 15 and 21 this year. The tourism department had borne the expenses. After the tour, she had done videos on places she visited.
Jyoti Malhotra was invited to Kerala by the tourism department, which met her expenses (File Photo) 
Share
