'Spy' YouTuber Jyoti Malhotra's police custody extended by 4 days

Jyoti Malhotra

The police custody of Haryana-based YouTuber Jyoti Malhotra, who was arrested over charges of spying for Pakistan, has been extended by four days.

She was arrested from Hisar on May 17 for passing on sensitive information to Pakistani intelligence operative and sent to five-day police custody, which ended today.

The travel vlogger, who has 3.77 lakh subscribers on YouTube, was in constant touch with Ali Hasan, who worked for the ISI, the spy agency of Pakistan.

Jyoti Malhotra reportedly visited Pakistan twice, during which she had come into contact with a Pakistan High Commission official in Delhi 'Rahim' alias Danish. It was Rahim who later introduced the Hisar woman to Pakistani intelligence operatives.

India, on May 13, expelled the official for allegedly indulging in espionage.

According to Shashank Kumar Sawan, Superintendent of Police (SP) Hisar, Malhotra was being developed as an asset and had maintained ties with other YouTube influencers and Pakistani nationals.

"She was in touch with other YouTube influencers, and they were also in contact with the Pakistan Information Officers (PIOs). She used to go to Pakistan ... on sponsored trips. She was in Pakistan before the Pahalgam attack, and the investigation is ongoing to establish any possible linkages,"  news agency ANI said quoting Sawan.

Pollice have obtained details of two bank accounts belonging to Jyoti and are now scrutinising transactions for any possible foreign links, News18 reported. Three of her mobile phones and a laptop have also been seized and sent for forensic analysis.

During the preliminary investigation, Jyoti Malhotra confessed to cops that she went to the Pakistan High Commission in Delhi in 2023 to apply for a visa and met a man named Ahsan-ur-Rahim, alias Danish.

"She used to make small videos at home. I am not aware of her trips. She used to say that she is going to Delhi," the 33-year-old woman's father Harish said after her arrest.