Espionage case: Court extends YouTuber Jyoti Malhotra's judicial custody till September 10

Jyoti Malhotra

A court here on Tuesday extended till September 10 the judicial custody of YouTuber Jyoti Malhotra who was arrested in May on suspicion of espionage.

Her lawyer Kumar Mukesh said that Malhotra was produced before Judicial Magistrate (First Class) Sunil Kumar through video conferencing and the court sent her to judicial custody till September 10.

Earlier, on August 25, her judicial custody had been extended till September 2.

Malhotra, who hails from Hisar and ran a YouTube channel 'Travel with JO', was arrested by the Hisar Police on May 16.

On giving a copy of the chargesheet to Malhotra, her lawyer Mukesh had on the previous date of hearing said the police filed an application in the court, saying a certain portion of the document should not be given to her, calling it confidential and sensitive.

The police had filed a 2,500-page chargesheet in the case.

Mukesh had filed a petition seeking her release on default bail, claiming that a complete challan has not been presented by the police within the stipulated 90-day period and the investigation in the case is not complete.

Malhotra was arrested at the New Aggarsain Extension and booked under provisions of the Official Secrets Act and the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS).

On June 9, a court rejected her regular bail plea.

The police had then opposed the bail, arguing that the investigation in this case was still underway.

The Hisar Police previously said no evidence emerged to indicate that Malhotra had access to any military or defence-related information, but claimed she was in contact with some people and was aware that they were Pakistani intelligence operatives.

Police sources had previously said she was in touch with Ehsan-ur-Rahim alias Danish, a staffer at the Pakistani High Commission, since November 2023.

India expelled Danish on May 13 for allegedly indulging in espionage.

The police in May claimed that Pakistani intelligence operatives were developing Malhotra as an "asset".