Chandigarh, May 18 - The arrest of 33-year-old YouTuber Jyoti Malhotra from Hisar, Haryana has shocked the entire country. Jyoti, arrested on charges of giving sensitive information of the country to Pakistani intelligence agencies under the guise of travel blogging, has been sent to five-day police remand by a Hisar court.
Jyoti runs a YouTube channel named 'Travel with Joe', which has 3.80 lakh subscribers and more than one lakh followers on Instagram. Jyoti, who calls herself a 'wanderer', has visited Pakistan thrice in the last two years and was preparing to go to Pakistan for the fourth time. She was fond of luxurious life.

How was the secret revealed?
Jyoti had access to those areas of Pakistan where it is almost impossible for ordinary Indians to go. In Lahore, the police themselves were seen serving her tea on the train. All these incidents attracted the attention of Indian security agencies. Jyoti is accused of providing information related to military bases and airstrips to Pakistani intelligence agents.

When and how did she become a puppet in the hands of Pakistani intelligence agency?
According to NDTV report, Jyoti met Ehsan ur Rahim alias Danish, who works in the Pakistani High Commission, in 2023. Danish assured her of getting a visa and the relationship between the two grew stronger. In Pakistan, Jyoti was introduced to intelligence agents like Ali Ahwan, Shakir and Rana Shahbaz. Meanwhile, she became a part of the spy network.
Jyoti passed on sensitive information to Pakistan through social media platforms like WhatsApp, Telegram and Snapchat. She named agent Shakir as 'Jatt Randhawa' so that no one would suspect her. Jyoti was invited as a special guest to a party organized at the Pakistan Embassy in Delhi on March 24, 2024. The video of this party is also on her channel. It is said that she also went on a trip to Bali with Pakistani officials.
Before Jyoti, Noman Ilahi (Panipat), Devendra Dhillon (Kaithal) and Arman (Nuh) have been arrested on charges of espionage in a joint operation by Haryana Police and intelligence agencies. The police is preparing to interrogate all the accused face to face. Several technical equipment have also been recovered from Jyoti, whose investigation is ongoing. It is believed that this case may reveal the Pakistani espionage network.