Pak 'spy' YouTuber Jyoti Malhotra’s Pahalgam trip months before terror attack under scanner

Jyoti Malhotra

In a fresh development in the high-profile espionage case involving YouTuber Jyoti Malhotra, it has now emerged that she visited Pahalgam in Jammu and Kashmir just three months before the deadly terror attack that rocked the region in April this year. Her presence in the sensitive area is drawing serious attention from investigators probing whether the trip was part of a larger espionage operation, according to a News18 report.

Malhotra, who runs the popular travel channel ‘Travel with JO’ on YouTube and hails from Hisar in Haryana, was arrested on May 17 on charges of passing sensitive information to Pakistan’s Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI). Her arrest is part of a broader crackdown under Operation Sindoor, during which five others have also been taken into custody for allegedly spying for Pakistan.

Is it a coincidence that u tuber Jyoti Malhotra who was honey trapped by Danish ,a Pakistani High Commission employee ( most probably ISI person) visited Pahalgam in January 2025? She was reportedly passing on sensitive information to ISI handlers. Our intelligence services pic.twitter.com/kh8qe7yf2N

Shesh Paul Vaid (@spvaid) May 18, 2025

Former Jammu and Kashmir Director General of Police, Shesh Paul Vaid, highlighted the alarming coincidence on social media platform X. “Is it a coincidence that u tuber Jyoti Malhotra who was honey trapped by Danish ,a Pakistani High Commission employee ( most probably ISI person) visited Pahalgam in January 2025? She was reportedly passing on sensitive information to ISI handlers,” he wrote.

As per News18, investigations suggest Malhotra was allegedly honey-trapped by an official working at the Pakistan High Commission in Delhi, identified as ‘Danish’, who was expelled from India on May 13 for espionage activities. The two reportedly maintained regular contact and authorities believe she had been cultivated over time to act as an informant.

PTI cited Puri Superintendent of Police Vinit Agrawal that Malhotra had also travelled to Puri in September 2024, where she came into contact with another woman YouTuber — who too had recently visited the Kartarpur Sahib Gurdwara in Pakistan. That woman is also being investigated for possible links to ISI handlers.

Malhotra’s digital footprint is vast. Her YouTube channel boasts over 3.77 lakh subscribers and her Instagram handle has more than 1.33 lakh followers. Police sources say that her online presence, frequent international travel and access to public and tourist spaces made her an ideal target for exploitation by foreign operatives.

The Pahalgam terror attack on April 22 claimed the lives of 26 people. While The Resistance Front (TRF), believed to be a proxy of Lashkar-e-Taiba, claimed responsibility for the attack, intelligence agencies are now looking into whether Malhotra’s January visit played a role in providing reconnaissance data or logistical support for the operation.

As Operation Sindoor progresses, officials say all the arrested individuals were in "constant contact" with Pakistan’s ISI and were actively providing information that could compromise national security.