Hisar court dismisses bail plea of social media influencer Jyoti Malhotra in espionage
CHANDIGARH: A local court in Hisar on Wednesday dismissed the bail application of social media influencer Jyoti Malhotra, who was arrested by the police on allegations of espionage activities.
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Judicial magistrate first class (JMIC) Hisar Sunil Kumar dismissed the plea after hearing the arguments submitted by Jyoti's counsel and the reply filed by the police.
While the police had strongly objected to the bail plea, her counsel mainly argued that despite her contact with Pakistani nationals, she has not been proven to access classified data or intentionally compromise the country's security. Advocate Kumar Mukesh, while representing Malhotra, had even referred to the official statements issued by the SP Hisar confirming that she had not shared any classified information with her handlers.
The order to dismiss her bail plea was announced in the open court. However, 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 has been examined from the central forensic laboratory (CFL) Panchkula and the report of CFL is being examined.
The probe agency further informed that the matter pertains to sedition and if she is granted bail, there are chances that she may influence the investigation as well as the witnesses related to the matter.
The police also submitted that she is in touch with other social media influencers and on release on bail, she may hamper the investigation of the case, which is at a crucial stage at this juncture.
"Those who sponsored her in such an act have been issued notices to join the probe and all those are yet to be examined. There is an alert in the country over Operation 'Sindoor,' if she is released on bail, there are chances that she may be harmful for the country because of her close association with the enemy country," the police had submitted.
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On May 26, Hisar police arrested Malhotra on suspicion of espionage. The 33-years old Hisar resident was then remanded in police custody for five days and thereafter she was sent to judicial custody. As per the initial probe, she was in touch with Danish, an employee of the Pakistani High Commission, since November 2023.
Recently, the Punjab police had also arrested a YouTuber Jasbir Singh, who was also having links with Malhotra.
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