Kolkata Police Probe Espionage Angle In Arrest Of Bangladeshi Model Shanta Paul
The officials are probing this new angle after learning through her social media account that Paul went to the India-Nepal-China border and recorded a video.
Police investigation also revealed that Paul had opened a page on social media called 'Asan Travels Kolkata and Bangladesh' where she was promoting her tourism business.
The police officials are also investigating whether Paul took a loan from any state-owned bank in India to open a hotel, based on her Facebook post.
A city police insider said that Paul had also travelled to several places in West Bengal and neighbouring Sikkim.
"She posted photographs and videos of her visits on social media. As a travel vlogger, she went to Nathu La in Sikkim. There, she took pictures of the India-Nepal-China border. Investigation is on to ascertain whether there are similarities between her case and that of Jyoti Malhotra, as she also used to travel to different places in India as a travel vlogger and take pictures and videos there," the police insider added.
Jyoti Malhotra was an Indian travel vlogger, who ran the YouTube channel "Travel with JO".
In May this year, Malhotra was arrested by the police under the Official Secrets Act amid the 2025 India-Pakistan conflict.
Malhotra was accused of espionage, passing sensitive information to operatives of Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI).
It was learned during investigations that she used to take travel photographs and videos and smuggle those to Pakistan.
The Kolkata Police is now investigating to find out whether Shanta Paul also operated similarly to that of Malhotra.
Last Monday, the officers from Park Street police station arrested Paul from a flat in Kolkata's Golf Green area in south Kolkata.
The police became suspicious after seeing the documents she had provided while applying for a passport.
During the arrest, several Bangladeshi documents were recovered from Paul's Golf Green flat.
It is learnt that Paul, a model by profession, entered India with a valid visa.
However, instead of going back before the expiry of her visa, she managed to fake Indian documents like the AADHAAR card and Voters' ID card for herself during that interim period.
After managing those fake identity documents, she started not only staying in Kolkata permanently but also earning substantial amounts through modelling and acting assignments, city police officials probing the case, said.
Police have learnt that she had acted in supporting roles in some Bengali and Tamil movies during the last couple of years.
She even purchased a property in the southern outskirts of Kolkata, which was jointly owned by her and her live-in partner, a resident of Andhra Pradesh and a Merchant Navy official by profession.
Police are now investigating whether Paul, using her presence in the glamour world, had developed any influential connection within West Bengal as well as in other states, by which she was able to operate openly in the glamour and acting world without causing doubts in the minds of anyone.
It is learnt that even in Bangladesh, she was quite successful as a model and also had won some awards there.
She had earlier worked as a staff member of the Bangladesh-based Regent Airways.
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