CHANDIGARH: A court in Mohali extended the police remand of Punjab YouTuber Jasbir Singh by two days. Singh was arrested on June 4 on charges of spying for Pakistan's ISI. Police said they found around 150 suspicious Pakistani numbers on Singh's contact list in his mobile phone.
Singh was produced before the local court in Mohali on Saturday after his three-day police remand ended. The state police sought a seven-day remand but the court granted them two more days of custody, said Singh's counsel.
A senior police official said Singh had met the Lahore-based Nasir Dhillon on three trips to Pakistan after they connected as fellow vloggers. Police are investigating the role of Dhillon and his potential links to Pakistani intelligence. He reportedly helped facilitate Singh’s visa and visits.
Police officials suspect that Singh might have deleted sensitive data from his mobile phone before his arrest. A forensic examination of the device is underway to recover any communications with Pakistani handlers.
Singh's ties with other suspected operatives Haryana-based YouTuber Jyoti Malhotra and Shakir ‘Jutt Randhawa’, a Pakistani intelligence officer, are also being investigated.
Singh was allegedly in close touch with Malhotra who ran a YouTube channel 'Travel with JO'. She was arrested last month by the Haryana police and is presently in custody on charges of spying for Pakistan. After Singh's arrest, police had claimed that it unearthed a "terror-backed espionage network" linking him to Pakistani intelligence and army officials.
On May 13, India had expelled Ehsan-ur-Rahim alias Danish, who was posted at the Pakistan High Commission, for allegedly indulging in espionage. Malhotra was allegedly in touch with Danish since November 2023.
Singh alias Jaan Mahal, a resident of Mahlan village in Rupnagar district, was running a YouTube channel "JaanMahal Video" with over 11 lakh subscribers, ostensibly posting travel and cooking vlogs.
Police are also investigating Singh's financial background. Before he became a YouTuber, he was employed as a cook in a European country. But now he is building a house in his village and had showcased the construction in online videos, raising questions about his sources of income.
Police had earlier claimed that Singh travelled to Pakistan on three occasions in 2020, 2021 and 2024 and came in direct contact with ISI officers who subsequently cultivated and recruited him to carry out espionage activities within India.
