Fugitive Punjab AAP MLA Pathanmajra denies involvement in firing at police; AGTF deputed to nab him

Patiala, Sep 3 (PTI) Punjab AAP MLA Harmeet Singh Pathanmajra, on the run after being booked in a rape case, on Wednesday denied police claims of being involved in firing at cops who came to arrest him in Haryana and said he fled after learning that he would be killed in a "fake encounter".

Sources said a team of the Anti-Gangster Task Force (AGTF), which is specially trained in carrying out operations against gangsters and notorious criminals, has been deputed to nab Pathanmajra.

In a video message released on Wednesday from an undisclosed location, Sanour MLA Pathanmajra again hit out at AAP's central leadership, alleging that he was being targeted by the "Delhi lobby".

He 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.

"I want to ask the police whether I confronted you or entered into a scuffle with you or fired any gunshot," he asked in the video.

Hitting out at the "Delhi lobby", he urged fellow Punjab legislators and ministers to unite against what he described as attempts by "outside forces to destabilise the state".

Invoking history, he added, "If invaders like Abdali couldn't scare Punjab, how can Delhi's leaders suppress us?" The MLA said he has respect for the police but expressed dismay that they were "acting on the Delhi leaders' directions".

He criticised the scale of the crackdown, claiming 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.

He claimed AGTF deputy superintendent of police Bikramjit Brar is after him and has been camping in Karnal.

The AGTF is trained to nab hardcore criminals and it has arrested and neutralised several A-category gangsters in the past.

It is learnt that the AGTF was scanning CCTV footage and mobile locations to trace the MLA.

Pathanmajra, a first-time MLA, escaped from custody on Tuesday amid gunshots and stone pelting by his supporters after a police team went to arrest him in the rape case in Dabri village in Haryana's Karnal district, where he was at the residence of one of his relatives.

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 one of the sources.

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 had accused a senior IAS officer of failing to act on his repeated requests for desilting and clean-up of rivers, particularly the Tangri river, and had targeted AAP's central leadership.

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 RT RT RT