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A Mohali court on Saturday remanded YouTuber Jasbir Singh, arrested on June 4 on espionage charges, to two days of police custody.
The arrested accused, identified as Jasbir Singh alias Jaan Mahal (41), a resident of Village Mahlan in Rupnagar, has been operating a YouTube channel "JaanMahal Video" with over 11 lakh subscribers, ostensibly posting travel and cooking vlogs. On Jasbir's remand, his lawyer said, "The police had asked for 7 days remand... We asked the police through the court what they did in 3 days. Today, he has been sent to a 2-day police remand." Jasbir Singh, who runs the YouTube channel "Jaan Mahal," is allegedly linked to a terror-backed espionage network involving Pakistani intelligence operative Shakir alias Jutt Randhawa, as per police sources. He is also said to have maintained close contact with Haryana-based YouTuber Jyoti Malhotra, previously arrested for spying, and Ehsan-ur-Rahim alias Danish, a Pakistani national and expelled Pakistan High Commission official, said the police. On Wednesday, Punjab Police's State Special Operation Cell (SSOC), SAS Nagar has arrested a YouTube influencer for spying for Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI), said Director General of Police (DGP) Punjab Gaurav Yadav, Information and Public Relations Department, Punjab, in an official statement. Earlier, DGP Gaurav Yadav said that the accused, Jasbir Singh, has been found associated with Pakistani Intelligence Operative (PIO) Shakir alias Jutt Randhawa, part of a terror-backed espionage network. He also maintained close contact with Haryana-based YouTuber Jyoti Malhotra-- arrested for spying by Haryana Police-- and Ehsan-ur-Rahim alias Danish, a Pakistani national and expelled Pak High Commission official, as per the statement. He said that investigations have revealed that Jasbir attended the Pakistan National Day event in Delhi on Danish's invitation, where he met Pakistani Army officials and vloggers. The accused has also travelled to Pakistan on three occasions, including in 2020, 2021 and 2024, and came into direct contact with ISI officers, who subsequently cultivated and recruited him to carry out espionage activities within India, he added earlier. The DGP said that after Jyoti Malhotra's arrest, the accused, Jasbir, had attempted to erase all traces of his communications with these PIOs to avoid detection. Further investigations are underway to dismantle the broader espionage-terror network and identify all collaborators, he added. (ANI)
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