Popular blogger arrested in India for allegedly spying for Pakistan

A popular travel blogger in India, Jyoti Malhotra, has been arrested on charges of passing sensitive information to Pakistani intelligence agencies. She was detained by police from the Hisar district in the northern Indian state of Haryana.

According to a report by Hindustan Times on Saturday (May 17), Jyoti is widely known through her YouTube channel 'Travel with Jo', which has around 377,000 subscribers. She is currently at the center of an investigation involving a Pakistan-linked spy ring.

She has been charged under multiple sections of the Indian Penal Code and the Official Secrets Act of 1923. After her arrest, she was taken into five-day police custody for interrogation.

The report states that Indian intelligence agencies claim Jyoti Malhotra traveled to Pakistan twice in 2023. She allegedly had links with a staff member of the Pakistani High Commission in New Delhi, named Ehsan-ur-Rahim, also known as Danish. It is alleged that Danish introduced her to Pakistani intelligence operatives, with whom she maintained regular contact via encrypted communication channels.

According to the investigators, she met operatives named Ali Ehwan, Shakir, and Rana Shahbaz in Pakistan and used aliases to stay in touch with them. It is also alleged that she traveled with Danish to Bali of Indonesia.

The Hisar Civil Lines Police stated that she is currently being interrogated in custody and efforts are underway to gather more information from her.