Hisar YouTuber held for spying meets father
YouTuber Jyoti Malhotra, who was arrested for spying for Pakistan and is in the custody of Hisar police for the past nine days, met her father Harish Malhotra today.
Sources said her father was taken by the police to meet her daughter today . The meeting lasted around 15 minutes, informed the sources. They added that the meeting took place with permission of the Hisar police official a day before the scheduled appearance of Jyoti in the court on completion of her four-day police remand.
The sources said Jyoti assured her father that she was innocent and would come clean of all charges. “She asked her father to stay in control of things and also take care of her uncle — Harish’s elder brother Kushan Chand. She also reminded him about the medicines and other essential things," said the sources.
“Though Jyoti’s father is keen to rope in a lawyer to appear for her in the court, she insisted on taking services of the District Legal Services Authority (DLSA) to defend her case," said the sources.
Her father had stated that he could not meet Jyoti during her appearance in the court on May 22 as he was given wrong timings.
The sources said the police decided to arrange the meeting today as it didn’t wanted to create a media hype.
Jyoti was picked up from her residence in New Agrasain Extension Colony on the intervening night of May 15 and 16. She was produced in the court, which remanded her to five-day police custody. Jyoti was again produced before the court on May 22, which remanded her in four-day police custody.
Jyoti was assigned the services of the DLSA lawyer by the court during her appearance on May 22. The DLSA appointed lawyer Jogmani Sharma and two of his legal associates represented her in the court.
Security agencies, including the National Investigation Agency, and Military Intelligence have questioned her. Besides, police of several states — Jammu & Kashmir and Rajasthan — visited Hisar to question her in the case.
Though the police had returned a mobile phone of her father and some other articles seized from her home during the raid, Jyoti’s laptop and cellphone are still with the police, said the sources, adding that the police are awaiting for forensic analysis report of electronic devices to make a watertight case against her.
On May 21, Hisar SP Shashank Kumar Sawan had stated that Jyoti didn’t had any access to sensitive information and also ruled out her terror links.
Haryana Tribune