‘Espionage' case: Bail plea of Hisar influencer Jyoti Malhotra dismissed
Chandigarh: A Hisar court on Wednesday dismissed the bail application of social media influencer
, who was arrested on allegations of espionage.
Judicial Magistrate First Class (JMIC) Sunil Kumar dismissed the plea after hearing the arguments submitted by Jyoti's counsel and the police reply.
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While the police strongly objected to the bail plea, her counsel argued that despite her contact with Pakistani nationals, it had not been proven that she accessed classified data or intentionally compromised the country's security.
Her lawyer even referred to the official statements issued by SP Hisar confirming that she had not shared any classified information with her handlers.
The order to dismiss her bail plea was announced in open court.
However, a copy of the detailed order was not available till the filing of the current report.
In its detailed reply to Jyoti's plea for bail, the investigation agency submitted that the result of electronic devices recovered from Jyoti was examined by the Central Forensic Laboratory (CFL) Panchkula, and they are examining this report.
The police also submitted that she was in touch with other social media influencers and, on being relesed on bail, she may hamper the investigation of the case, which is at a crucial stage at this juncture.
On May 26, Hisar cops arrested Malhotra on suspicion of espionage. The 33-year-old Hisar resident was then remanded to five-day police custody and thereafter sent to judicial custody. As per the initial probe, she was in touch with Danish, an employee of the Pakistani High Commission, since Nov 2023. Recently, the Punjab police also arrested a YouTuber, Jasbir Singh, who had links with Malhotra.
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