Social media influencers and YouTubers Jyoti Malhotra and Jasbir Singh – both arrested on charges of spying – have been remanded to further judicial custody until June 23, when their cases would next be heard in Hisar and Mohali courts respectively.
Jyoti, 33, appeared before the court of Hisar Judicial Magistrate (First Class) Sunil Kumar through video conferencing on Monday, which extended her judicial custody by two weeks. “The court has extended her judicial custody and fixed June 23 for the next hearing in this case,” her lawyer Kumar Mukesh said.
The Hisar Police had arrested Jyoti on May 16 on suspicion of espionage. She was subsequently remanded to five days of police custody by the court, after which it was extended by four more days on the police’s request for further questioning. Later, on May 26, the court remanded Jyoti to judicial custody for 14 days.
Malhotra, who was arrested at her New Aggarsain Extension home, ran a YouTube channel called, ‘Travel with JO’. She was booked under provisions of the Official Secrets Act and the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita.
It is noteworthy that the Hisar Police previously said no evidence had emerged to indicate Malhotra had access to any military or defence-related information, but claimed she was in contact with some people despite being aware that they were Pakistani Intelligence Operatives (PIO).
Police sources have claimed both Jyoti and Jasbir were in touch with Ehsan-ur-Rahim alias Danish, a staffer at the Pakistani High Commission, who had been expelled by India on May 13 for alleged espionage.
Police further claimed Jyoti was being “developed as an asset” by intelligence operatives.
Meanwhile, Jasbir Singh, 41, who ran a YouTube travel and cooking channel called, ‘Jaan Mahal’, with an 11-lakh subscriber count, was arrested on June 4 by the Punjab Police. On Monday, a Mohali court sent him to judicial custody after a five-day police remand.
Jasbir’s counsel Mohit Dhupar said he will be produced in court again on June 23.
Hailing from Mahlan Village in Rupnagar district, Jasbir has been accused of spying for Pakistan’s Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) and associating with a PIO named Shakir alias Jutt Randhawa who was known to expelled Pak diplomat, Danish.
Claiming to have unearthed a “terror-backed espionage network” after arresting Jasbir, the Punjab Police say he attempted to erase all traces of his communications with these PIOs after Jyoti’s arrest to avoid detection.
The police claim he travelled to Pakistan in 2020, 2021 and 2024, and came in contact with ISI officers who subsequently cultivated and recruited him to carry out espionage activities within India. He is also accused of attending the Pakistan National Day event in Delhi on Danish’s invitation, where he met Pakistani Army officials and vloggers.
Jasbir has been accused of relaying sensitive information about the movement of the Indian Army and other inside activities of the country to Pakistan.
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