YouTuber Jyoti Malhotra, arrested for 'espionage', travelled to Pakistan ahead of Pahalgam attack

Hisar Superintendent of Police (SP) Shashank Kumar Sawan on Sunday said the Pakistani Intelligence Operatives (PIO) were grooming Jyoti, a 33-year-old who was arrested for spying in favour of Pakistan, to become an asset.

Sawan said Jyoti visited Pakistan a number of times including once before the Pahalgam attack and also toured China.

"She is being interrogated by the Haryana Police, in coordination with central agencies. We are analysing her financial transactions and travel history to determine the sources of her income," the SP said as quoted by Hindustan Times.

"Her known income sources do not justify her foreign travel. We suspect external funding. On the surface, she was just a travel blogger," he added.

Popularly known by her YouTube channel "Travel with Jo", which boasts nearly 4 lakh subscribers, Jyoti has now emerged as a key figure in an ongoing investigation into a suspected Pakistani espionage network spanning across northern India.

Arrested last Friday, Jyoti is accused of passing sensitive information related to India’s military to Pakistan.

While her arrest was made in May 2025, a year-old post on social media warning about her Pakistan links has resurfaced and gone viral.

Dated May 2024, the post is now being widely circulated online in light of the new developments.

Jyoti had reportedly travelled to Pakistan twice in 2023. Her online activity shows that her visits to Kashmir were followed by trips to Pakistan.

In May 2024, an X user named Kapil Jain had urged the National Investigation Agency to keep a watch on Malhotra’s movements.

"NIA, please keep close watch on this lady..she first visited and attained Pakistani embassy function then visited Pakistan for 10 days now she is heading for Kashmir... may be some link behind all these [sic]," Jain had posted, alongside a screenshot of her YouTube page.

Since her arrest, the year-old warning has garnered over a million views.

"Wow! This guy found her activities suspicious one full year before she was arrested!! Respect!" one user commented.

Another remarked, "You have got to question the security agencies when a random Twitter user cracks a case about a Pakistani spy literally a year before them."