SC Rejects Bail Plea of YouTuber Jyoti Malhotra in Espionage Case

Key Points:

ON JUNE 5, 2026, the Supreme Court rejected the bail plea of Indian YouTuber Jyoti Malhotra, who was arrested in May 2025 in an espionage case. Malhotra, a 33-year-old Haryana-based travel YouTuber, has been accused of allegedly spying for Pakistan and leaking sensitive information to the Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI).

Malhotra reportedly has over 3 lakh subscribers and 1 lakh followers on Instagram. According to reports, the YouTuber had visited Pakistan twice. NDTV reported that the accused allegedly had connections with Ehsan-ur-Rahim, alias Danish, a Pakistani official at the Pakistani High Commission in New Delhi. Following the controversy surrounding Malhotra, Danish was expelled from India on May 13, 2025.

In a recent development in the Jyoti Malhotra espionage case, a bench comprising Justices Dipankar Datta and Satish Chandra Sharma refused to grant bail to the Haryana-based YouTuber. Malhotra was booked under Sections 3, 4, and 5 of the Official Secrets Act, 1923, and Section 152 of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS).

See Also: The Enduring Case Of Habib Zahir, A Pakistani Spy Who Helped Catch Former Indian Naval Officer Kulbhushan Jadhav—Where Is He Now?

Who is YouTuber Jyoti Malhotra?

Malhotra has a YouTube channel named Travel with Jo. She has been accused of sharing classified information and allegedly acting as a spy for Pakistan. The Haryana Police registered a case against Malhotra, a resident of Hisar, under the relevant sections in 2025. The police claimed that intelligence operatives from Pakistan were working to recruit Malhotra as their spy.

The apex court’s decision to reject the bail plea was based on the “very serious” allegations against her. Shashank Kumar Sawan, the Superintendent of Police of Hisar, had previously stated that Pakistani operatives were using Indian social media influencers to propagate their narratives. Sawan said, “Modern warfare is not only fought on the border. The PIOs are trying to recruit some social media influencers, and they use them to push their narrative. We received inputs from the central agencies, and we arrested Jyoti Malhotra.” 

The accused approached the top court in March 2026 after the Punjab and Haryana High Court rejected her bail plea. The court stated that there was sufficient evidence to support the prosecution’s case. The investigation revealed that Malhotra had been in contact with several Pakistani operatives and had disclosed sensitive information regarding strategically important locations.

The accused responded to the allegations by stating that she had been falsely implicated. Her lawyer argued that the case relied on statements recorded while the accused was in police custody.

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