In YouTuber Jyoti Malhotra's Diary, Takeaways From Her 10 Days In Pakistan

YouTuber Jyoti Malhotra, who has several videos on her social media handles detailing her trips to Pakistan, has been hitting headlines for all the wrong reasons. The 33-year-old has been arrested on charges of spying for Pakistan and is being investigated by the National Investigation Agency and the Intelligence Bureau. Now, two pages of her diary have emerged, which give a glimpse of her 10 days in Pakistan. The diary was recovered by the Haryana Police.

"Today, I have returned to my country, India, after a 10-day trip from Pakistan. During this time, I received a lot of love from the people of Pakistan. Our subscribers and friends also came to meet us. The two days we got to visit Lahore were not enough," read the undated entry.

Using adjectives "crazy and colourful" for Pakistan, she said her experience there can't be described in words.

One of her entries had a request to the Pakistani authorities, "Protect the temples there and let Indians meet their families from whom they were separated in 1947".

The content creator from Haryana, who ran the YouTube channel 'Travel with Jo', was arrested on May 16 and charged under the relevant sections of the Official Secrets Act and the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita.

Jyoti Malhotra was among 12 people who were arrested from Punjab, Haryana and Uttar Pradesh over the past two weeks on charges of espionage, with investigators pointing at an alleged Pakistan-linked spy network operating in northern India.

The YouTuber's financial transactions and travel details are also under the probe agency scanner. Earlier, police said her known sources of income did not justify her foreign travels.

A forensic analysis of Jyoti's laptop is underway, the police said, adding that they would also question those who were in touch with the YouTuber.

During the investigation, her link to a Pakistani official posted in the Pakistan High Commission in Delhi surfaced. She was allegedly in touch with Ehsan-ur-Rahum alias Danish whom she first met in 2023 during her visit to the Pakistan High Commission, where she went for a visa to visit the neighbouring country. Ehsan-ur-Rahum was expelled on May 13 for "engaging in activities incompatible with his privileged status".

Earlier, Hisar SP Shashank Kumar Sawan said that the YouTuber was being developed as an "asset" by Pakistani intelligence operatives.

"This is modern warfare that is not just fought on the borders. We came across a new modus operandi wherein PIOs were trying to recruit some social media influencers," he said.

The officer also said Jyoti went to Kashmir before the Pahalgam attack and visited Pakistan before that, and police are trying to establish the "links" between these visits.