Chandigarh: A Hisar court on Thursday extended the police remand of YouTuber Jyoti Malhotra, who is facing charges of spying for Pakistan, by four days.
Jyoti, 33, was presented by police in the court of Sunil Kumar, civil judge, junior division, at the end of her initial five-day police remand, amid tight security while no outsider was allowed inside the courtroom during the hearing.
However, later after the hearing, Hisar superintendent of police (SP) Shashank Kumar Sawan, told newspersons that the police had got four more days of police remand for further investigation.
Refusing to elaborate on the details of investigation so far, police said that the accused Jyoti Malhotra has admitted to have shared information with Pakistani intelligence operatives (PIOs). Meanwhile, according to media reports, the police had also reportedly said a few days ago that no evidence had yet emerged indicating the accused Jyoti had access to any defence related information.
The police, however, held that accused Jyoti was in touch with Ehsan-ur-Rahim alias Danish, an employee of Pakistan High Commission, in New Delhi, and visited Pakistan twice since 2023 during when she was allegedly introduced to PIOs. She also allegedly travelled to Bali, Indonesia with one of PIOs and it was suspected that she was being developed as an ``asset’’ for spying purposes.
Notably, Danish was declared persona non grata by the Indian government and expelled on May 13, last, for allegedly indulging in espionage.
It may be recalled that Jyoti was among 12 people arrested from Punjab, Haryana and Uttar Pradesh (UP) over the past two weeks on the charges of spying for Pakistan under various provisions of Official Secrets Act and the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS).
She was arrested from Hisar on May 17, last and the police had seized and sent her three mobile phones and a laptop for forensic examination and was analysing her four bank accounts. Meanwhile, the National Investigation Agency (NIA), Intelligence Bureau and military intelligence officials have also interrogated her.
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