Who is Priyanka Senapati? Odisha YouTuber under IB scanner in Jyoti Malhotra spy case

A day after Jyoti Malhotra, a Haryana-based YouTuber, was arrested on charges of spying for Pakistan, her friend and fellow content creator from Odisha, Priyanka Senapati, has come under scrutiny in connection with a case involving fellow creator Jyoti Malhotra, who was arrested on suspicion of spying for Pakistan.

Priyanka Senapati, who travelled to Kartarpur in Pakistan three to four months ago, became friends with Jyoti. Every aspect of Priyanka’s involvement, including her connection with Jyoti and her international travel to the Kartarpur corridor, are being carefully investigated, Puri Superintendent of Police (SP) Vinit Agrawal, as per Hindustan Times report.

Priyanka Senapati had written in an Instagram post, “Jyoti was just a friend of mine, and I came in contact with her through YouTube. I was unaware of anything which she is accused of. I would not have been in touch with her if I knew she was spying for enemy Pakistan.”

“If any investigative agency wishes to cross-question, I would provide full cooperation. Nation is above all. Jai Hind,” she wrote.

The Puri-based content creator has 20,000 Instagram followers and 14,600 YouTube subscribers. She shares videos of her exploring places in Odisha, and other parts of the country as well.

On March 25, Priyanka Senapati uploaded a video of her trip to Pakistan with the title “Odia Girl in Pakistan | Kartarpur Corridor Guide | Odia Vlog” on her YouTube account, Prii_vlogs.

Priyanka Senapati has not yet been taken into custody. According to her father, they were questioned by the Intelligence Bureau about their involvement in Jyoti Malhotra and Priyanka’s visit to Pakistan.

Her father said about the case, “I was not aware of anything. It was recently that I learnt Jyoti Malhotra has been arrested on spying charges. My daughter Priyanka is a YouTuber, and she had come in contact with Jyoti, who had visited Puri in September 2024. I have no idea where Jyoti stayed. She had not visited our house.”

“She had visited Kartarpur along with one other person, along with documents. Many YouTubers have also visited Kartarpur. My daughter is a student, and she was not aware of Jyoti’s involvement in spying for an enemy country,” he added.

Jyoti Malhotra’s activities in Puri are currently being investigated by police, who are trying to find out if she had contacted anybody who was suspicious.

Jyoti had a YouTube channel with 3.77 lakh subscribers and an Instagram account with 1.33 lakh followers.  Because she allegedly communicated with a Pakistani employee at the Pakistan High Commission in Delhi, Haryana police detained her. 

India expelled that Pakistani officer on May 13 for allegedly engaging in espionage.