A 33-year-old Haryana-based travel YouTuber, Jyoti Malhotra alias Jyoti Rani, has been arrested on the charges of spying for Pakistan, police said on Saturday, May 17.
She was arrested from New Aggarsain Extension in Hisar for allegedly sharing military information with Pakistan and endangering the sovereignty, unity and integrity of India. She has been booked under the relevant sections of the Official Secrets Act and the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita.
The Haryana police claim the YouTuber had come in contact with a Pakistan High Commission official, Ehsan-ur-Rahim alias Danish. She had even applied for a Pakistani visa and visited the neighbouring country twice. During one of her visits, she met Rahim’s acquaintance Ali Ahwan, who arranged for her stay and travel in the country, NDTV reported.
In her confession, the Youtuber said that Ali Ahwan introduced her to Shakir and Rana Shahbaz. “In Pakistan, Ali Ahwan arranged a meeting with Pakistani security and intelligence officials and I met Shakir and Rana Shahbaz. I took Shakir’s mobile number and saved it in my phone under the name of ‘Jat Randhawa’ to avoid suspicion. Then I came back to India and remained in constant touch with all the above people through platforms like WhatsApp, Snapchat and Telegram and started exchanging anti-national information. I also met Rahim several times,” officials quoted Malhotra as having told the police.
She has been sent to police custody for five days.
Her channel describes herself as a ‘nomadic Leo girl wanderer’, ‘Haryanvi+Punjabi’ and ‘purane khyalo ki modern ladki‘ (a modern girl with a traditional outlook).
Security guard, student held for leaking info to ISI
On May 14, a 24-year-old security guard named Nauman Ilahi was arrested in Panipat, Haryana, for allegedly spying for Pakistan. He reportedly received money through his brother-in-law’s bank account in exchange for sharing information.
In a similar case, a 25-year-old student, Devendra Singh Dhillon, was arrested in Kaithal on May 12 after posting photos of guns on social media. During questioning, he told the Haryana Police that he had visited Pakistan through the Kartarpur corridor in November last year and had shared sensitive information with ISI officers.
Dhillon, who is a first-year Master’s student of political science at Khalsa College in Patiala, had also sent photos of the Patiala military cantonment to Pakistani officers, police said.
Last week, the Punjab Police also arrested two other people – 31-year-old Guzala and Yameen Mohamad – on similar spying charges.
Guzala confessed to the crime and said he was paid Rs 30,000 in two transactions via UPI, Indian Express reported.
A few days before Guzala’s arrest, the Amritsar Rural Police arrested Falaksher Masih and Suraj Masih for allegedly leaking sensitive information and photographs of the Army Cantonment areas and Air Bases to Pakistan’s intelligence agency.
Investigations are underway
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