Fugitive Punjab AAP MLA Pathanmajra denies involvement in firing at police

Patiala, Sep 3 (PTI) Punjab AAP MLA Harmeet Singh Pathanmajra, who was on the run after being booked in a rape case, on Wednesday denied police claims of being involved in a firing at cops who came to arrest him in Haryana on Tuesday.

In a video message released on Wednesday from an undisclosed location, Sanour MLA Pathanmajra claimed that he fled after learning that he would be killed in a "fake encounter".

"I never confronted the police. When they tried to fire at my car, I escaped by another route. I survived only by God's grace," he said.

Taking a veiled dig at party's central leadership, Pathanmajra accused a "Delhi lobby" of targeting him and urged fellow Punjab legislators and ministers to unite against what he described as attempts by "outside forces to destabilise the state".

Stressing respect for the police, he expressed dismay that they were allegedly acting on the Delhi leaders' directions.

He criticised the scale of the crackdown, saying 400-500 personnel -- including 8-10 superintendents of police (SPs), several deputy SPs and a dozen station house officers SHOs -- had been deployed to portray him as a fugitive gangster.

Pathanmajra remained on the run a day after he escaped from police custody amid gunshots and stone pelting by his supporters following his arrest in a rape case.

Efforts are on to nab Pathanmajra, police sources said on Wednesday.

A team of the Anti-Gangster Task Force and other police teams were chasing him, said the sources.

Pathanmajra, a first-time MLA, escaped from custody after a police team went to arrest him in Dabri village in Haryana's Karnal district, where he was at the residence of one of his relatives.

Pardeep Bajwa, in charge of the Patiala Crime Investigation Agency (CIA), said on Tuesday, "We conducted a raid at Pathanmajra's (relative's) residence in Haryana. He was arrested. But a group of villagers and some mischievous elements pelted stones at the police team and fired gunshots." The Sanour MLA used the cover fire and stone pelting to escape, he added.

According to officials, Pathanmajra and his supporters fled in two SUVs -- a Scorpio and a Fortuner. A policeman who tried to stop the vehicles was injured after being hit, they said.

Balwinder Singh, an accomplice of the MLA, was arrested with three weapons in his possession, the police said. They later seized the Fortuner, but the MLA managed to flee in the other vehicle.

According to an FIR registered at the Civil Lines police station here on September 1, Pathanmajra was booked on charges of rape, cheating and criminal intimidation.

The case was registered based on a complaint by a Zirakpur-based woman, who alleged that the MLA misrepresented himself as divorced, entered into a relationship with her and later married in 2021 while already being married.

She accused him of continued sexual exploitation, threats and sending "obscene" material to her.

After the FIR was filed, Pathanmajra went live on Facebook on Tuesday, strongly criticising the Punjab government and alleging that the Delhi-based AAP leadership was "illegitimately ruling over Punjab".

He appealed to fellow party MLAs to stand with him, claiming that during the Congress or BJP governments, the central leadership did not interfere in state affairs the way AAP was doing.

On Sunday, Pathanmajra also accused a senior IAS officer of failing to act on his repeated requests for desilting and clean-up of rivers, particularly the Tangri river.

However, AAP leader Baltej Singh Pannu on Tuesday said Pathanmajra started raising the flood issue and targeting the IAS officer only after learning that police could take action against him based on the woman's complaint. PTI COR CHS VSD KSS KSS