A court here on Monday extended by 14 days the judicial custody of social media influencer Jyoti Malhotra, arrested last month on suspicion of espionage.
The Hisar Police arrested Malhotra, who ran a YouTube channel 'Travel with JO', on May 16. Hailing from Hisar, the YouTuber was arrested at the New Aggarsain Extension and booked under provisions of the Official Secrets Act and the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS).
Malhotra is currently under judicial custody, which has been extended by the court, her lawyer Kumar Mukesh said. "Her judicial custody has been further extended by 14 days, and the next date of hearing has been fixed by the court on July 21." The 33-year-old YouTuber appeared before the court through video conference.
On June 9, another court here rejected her regular bail plea. Police had opposed the bail, arguing that the investigation in this case was still underway.
After her arrest on May 16, Malhotra was remanded to five days of police custody by the court.
Following the completion of the remand, the court extended the custody by four more days after the police sought to question her further. On May 26, the court remanded her to judicial custody for 14 days, which was extended later.
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 and was aware that they were Pakistani intelligence operatives.
Police sources had previously said she was in touch with Ehsan-ur-Rahim alias Danish, a staffer at the Pakistani High Commission, since November 2023.
India expelled Danish on May 13 for allegedly indulging in espionage.
Police had in May claimed that Pakistani intelligence operatives were developing Malhotra as an "asset".
