Bengal bloggers in friend list of 'spy' Jyoti Malhotra under intelligence agencies' lens

Kolkata, May 20
West Bengal's travel bloggers -- whose names surfaced in the friend list of Jyoti Malhotra, a Haryana-based YouTuber arrested on espionage charges -- were now under the scanner of the intelligence agency.

Sources said West Bengal-based travel bloggers, who were spotted accompanying Malhotra in different parts of the country in pictures and videos on her social media accounts, were under scrutiny.

What has kept the sleuths quite worried is that during her visit to Kolkata and the outskirts in February this year, before going to Pakistan in March, Malhotra made video shoots not just at some popular food joints in the city and outskirts, but also at some busy junctions which remain heavily-crowded almost round the clock.

Some of these busy junctions were Howrah and Sealdah Stations in Kolkata, the iconic Kali Temple at Dakshineswar in North 24 Parganas, and the roads adjacent to the Indian Army bases and West Bengal Police Academy at Barrackpore, also in North 24 Parganas.

At Barrackpore, she also did a video shoot at a popular Biriyani joint there.

The sources added that intelligence sleuths have collected this information from Malhotra's social media accounts and a couple of travel bloggers in West Bengal, whom she met during her Kolkata visit in February this year.

Also under scanner is another travel blogger from West Bengal, whose marriage function at Liluah in Howrah district was attended by Malhotra in February.

Now, the sources added, the investigating officials are wondering whether the videos and pictures available on her social media accounts are the entire lot she had in her collection, or there is more such stuff that she might have handed over to the Pakistan spy agencies.

Malhotra visited Kolkata in February this year. After going back from the city, she visited Pakistan in March. There, too, she made YouTube blogs at various popular places, as was evident in her social media accounts.