Haryana Police on Saturday arrested Jyoti Rani aka Jyoti Malhotra - a YouTuber - allegedly for spying for Pakistan. Rani visited Puri in Odisha last September, where she met a Puri based content creator - who in turn had visited Kartarpur in Pakistan recently.
Rani, who goes by ‘TravelwithJo’ on YouTube, has 381K subscribers and 487 videos. Her Instagram account has over 1,32,000 followers. She was arrested after she was allegedly found sharing “sensitive information” with an official of the Pakistan High Commission in Delhi, as per The Indian Express.
The Odiha police investigation to understand and verify if there are links or suspicious activity between the Puri based woman and Rani is underway. The name of the Puri based content creator has not been revealed yet for security reasons, according to media reports.
“My daughter has no involvement in anti-national activities and was unaware of Malhotra's alleged espionage. We are cooperating with the police in their investigation,” Time of India quoted Puri-based YouTuber’s father.
“My daughter loves travelling and visited Kartarpur with another friend (not Jyoti) three months ago for pilgrimage. She got official permission to visit that place,” he continued to say.
Rani had clicked images and recorded videos near the Jagannath Temple, a 12th-century shrine while she was visiting Puri.
“We are also in touch with the state and central agencies and Haryana Police. We have not found anything suspicious so far. If we get to know anything suspicious, we will take steps accordingly,” Puri SP Vinit Agrawal told The Indian Express.
The Indian Express also reported that no case has been registered in regard to the Puri based woman, and that the police questioned her late on Sunday at her home and regarding details about the visit of the Haryana YouTuber to Puri, her itinerary, the places she had visited and whom she met.
