Travel vlogger Jyoti Malhotra, who was recently arrested on suspicion of espionage, has been remanded to judicial custody following the conclusion of her police remand. The 33-year-old influencer, known for her YouTube channel “Travel with JO”, was produced in court on Monday.
According to a police spokesperson, no further custody was sought, prompting the court to send her to jail.
Meanwhile, police sources confirmed that forensic teams have retrieved substantial data from Malhotra’s seized digital devices. “Nearly 10-12 terabytes of data has been recovered. Further investigation in this regard is under progress,” they stated. Authorities had previously sent three of her mobile phones and a laptop for examination, and her four bank accounts are also under scrutiny.
Last week, Malhotra’s police custody was extended by four days after she had completed an initial five-day remand. She is among a dozen individuals detained over the past three weeks across Punjab, Haryana, and Uttar Pradesh amid suspicions of a broader espionage ring with alleged links to Pakistani intelligence networks operating in northern India.
A native of Hisar, Malhotra was apprehended in the New Aggarsain Extension area and charged under the Official Secrets Act and relevant sections of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita.
Hisar police had earlier noted that while there was no evidence suggesting Malhotra accessed any sensitive military or defence information, “she was definitely in contact with some people, knowing that they were Pakistani intelligence operatives.”
Investigators revealed that she had been in communication with Ehsan-ur-Rahim alias Danish, an official with the Pakistani High Commission, since November 2023. Danish was expelled by the Indian government on May 13 for alleged involvement in espionage activities.
Malhotra has also been questioned by officials from the National Investigation Agency (NIA), Intelligence Bureau (IB), and military intelligence. Further revelations point to her travel history, which includes visits to Pakistan, China, Bangladesh, and other countries. She was also reportedly in contact with Danish during the recent four-day military escalation between India and Pakistan that followed the April 22 terror attack in Pahalgam.
