Jyoti Malhotra, a travel blogger at Sirsa, Haryana, arrested on espionage charges, was a guest of the Kerala government in the campaign to promote tourism and visited the southern state as part of an initiative to reach influential people. The Right to Information (RTI) report said that Jyoti Malhotra, a 33 -year -old travel to Sirsa, Haryana, arrested on charges of espionage for Pakistan, had earlier come to Kerala as a guest during the reach campaign to influential people of the state government to promote tourism.
Was ‘detective’ hosted in Kerala?
A question asked under the Right to Information (RTI) Act has revealed that the Kerala government funded the journey of 41 influential people elected to promote the southern state as a global tourist destination. The state government paid his journey, accommodation and food. This included a private agency to help him shoot the video during his stay. Jyoti Malhotra was also among these 41 influential people.
Jyoti Malhotra associated with Pakistan was a tourism guest in Kerala
According to ANI, the RTI report showed that the Kerala government sponsored the visit of influential people as part of its campaign to promote the state as a global tourist destination. The government bear the expenses of his travel, housing and food and appointed a private agency to assist in video construction during his stay.
Jyoti Malhotra was also included in influential people
According to the official record, Jyoti Malhotra visited Kannur, Kozhikode, Kochi, Alappuzha and Munnar between 2024 and 2025 under the impressive cooperation initiative of the government. His participation with several other digital creators active between January 2024 and May 2025 was listed.
Politics started in the state after revelations
After this revelation, opposition parties targeted the state government, Kerala Tourism Minister PA Mohammad Rias said that Jyoti Malhotra was invited along with other influential people to promote Kerala. “It was part of a major impressive campaign aimed at promoting Kerala. Everything was done with transparent and goodwill,” he said. “This is not a government that promotes espionage. The media should understand how the government system works. No one could imagine it.”
Kerala government will never deliberately invite detectives to the state: Minister Mohammad Rias
Kerala Tourism Minister P.A. Mohammad Rias said on Sunday that the Left Front government and its ministers will never deliberately call the detectives here and provide all the facilities. Rias, while talking to reporters, BJP leader K.K. Surendran’s allegation commented that the social media ‘Influencer’ Jyoti Malhotra, who was arrested on suspicion of espionage in May, was invited to Kerala to promote tourism in the state.
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Surendran also cited an RTI reply to confirm Malhotra’s invitation to Malhotra in a post on X and questioned why Kerala Tourism Department sponsored the visit of Pakistan -linked detective.
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The BJP leader had earlier made such allegations on X. Rejecting such allegations, Rias said that the government or its ministers will never deliberately call a detective in the state. He said that he is not afraid of such propaganda. The minister said, we do not give any importance to such publicity because the public is with us.