Travel Blogger Held for Spying for Pakistan; Puri Visit Under Probe

Bhubaneswar: Travel blogger and YouTuber Jyoti Malhotra, arrested by Haryana police on charges of espionage for Pakistan, is now under intense scrutiny after it emerged that she had visited Odisha’s temple town of Puri last year. The visit, which included a stop at the 12th-century Jagannath Temple, has raised serious security concerns given the heightened threat perception at major religious sites.

Malhotra, who was taken into custody by the Economic Offences Wing in Haryana, is one of six people arrested for allegedly sharing sensitive information with Pakistan’s intelligence operatives. Her visit to Puri took place in the third quarter of 2024, where she was accompanied by family members. While she shared visuals near the temple on her Instagram handle ‘@travelwithjo1’, there was no explicit mention of her entering the shrine.

Given the sensitive nature of the Jagannath Temple and its history of being under high security due to terror threats, authorities are now probing whether Malhotra’s visit had any ulterior motives. Investigators are trying to determine whether she gathered strategic information in Puri and whether the temple town was among the Indian locations she allegedly reported on.

According to the FIR filed at Civil Lines Police Station in Hisar, Malhotra came into contact with a Pakistan High Commission staffer, Ehsan-ur-Rahim alias Danish, in Delhi in 2023. She is accused of not only sharing sensitive data about Indian locations, including military movements, but also using her social media platforms to present Pakistan in a favorable light.

Danish, who has since been expelled by the Indian government on May 13 after being declared persona non grata, allegedly introduced Malhotra to multiple Pakistani intelligence operatives. Investigators also revealed that Malhotra developed an intimate relationship with one of the operatives and even traveled with him to Bali, Indonesia.

She reportedly used encrypted messaging platforms such as WhatsApp, Telegram, and Snapchat to communicate and saved contacts of Pakistani handlers under fake names to avoid detection.

Malhotra has been booked under Sections 3 and 5 of the Official Secrets Act, along with Section 152 of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS), based on a complaint by Sub-Inspector Bijender Singh.

In a broader crackdown, Hisar police also arrested Devender Dhillon from Kaithal district for allegedly leaking strategic information, including updates on military operation ‘Sindoor’. Meanwhile, Punjab Police this week arrested four individuals—Gazala, Yameen Mohammad from Malerkotla, and Falaksher Masih and Suraj Masih from Amritsar—for their alleged involvement in passing sensitive military data to Pakistan’s ISI.

Authorities are now delving deeper into the network of operatives across states, with a particular focus on whether religious and strategic sites like Puri were part of a larger espionage agenda.