A travel vlogger, now arrested for allegedly spying for Pakistan, was in the city at least twice in the last one year and had collaborated with several of Calcutta’s content creators. One of them recounted encounters with Jyoti Malhotra, the “charming woman” who loved biryani.
Jyoti, 32, who describes herself as “Nomadic Leo Girl”, was arrested in Hisar in Haryana last week on charges of espionage. An employee of the Pakistan High Commission in Delhi is suspected to be her handler in India.
“On both her visits to Calcutta, she insisted on having biryani. She is a food lover and loves biryani, in particular,” Soumit Bhattacharya, a city vlogger who mostly vlogs on buses and vehicles, told Metro on Monday.
Soumit had taken Jyoti to two of Calcutta’s favourite biryani joints.
Jyoti travelled extensively from Sealdah to Howrah and Dum Dum to Liluah and documented everything she saw, some of which is available on her YouTube channel, “Travel with Jo”, with 3.86 lakh subscribers.
Soumit, 24, said it was common to help a fellow vlogger travelling to one’s city. He studied engineering in Vellore but returned to Calcutta to pursue his passion for vlogging.
“I just provided her with local assistance. But I never felt anything that would make me suspicious about her,” he said.
They met for the first time in Ayodhya in January 2024, during the consecration ceremony of the Ram temple.
Jyoti had come to Calcutta in May last year, travelling on the Rajdhani Express from Delhi,
according to her vlogs.
She walked on the Howrah Bridge and Brabourne Road before hiring a yellow cab that took her to Sealdah station, her vlog suggests. She spent the night at Sealdah
station’s women’s dormitory.
“I met her the next day and took her to a restaurant where she had vegetable biryani,” Soumit said.
Jyoti’s next visit to Calcutta was in February this year, when she came to attend a fellow vlogger’s wedding in Liluah. Both Jyoti and Soumit were invited.
“She again wanted to have biryani. This time, I took her to a favourite restaurant of mine. She ate with her hands to savour the flavoured rice and enjoyed the green chutney with the salad, too,” Soumit recalled.
After the biryani stop, they went to Liluah to attend the wedding.
Jyoti took a flight out of the city from the Calcutta airport. She documented the airport, too, apart from several other installations like the Howrah Bridge, and Sealdah and Howrah stations.
Soumit went to the airport with Jyoti and took another flight, not knowing that the woman he had been assisting in Calcutta was under the scanner of the intelligence agencies.
Did she ever mention“Pakistan” in her conversations?
“Never. She never spoke about Pakistan except once when she mentioned that she was about to go to Pakistan. But there was nothing to suspect. This news came as a big shock. I used to know her as a simple person who vlogs well,” Soumit said.