Punjab AAP MLA Harmeet Singh booked for rape remains on run after escaping from custody

Patiala: AAP MLA Harmeet Singh Pathanmajra remained on the run a day after he escaped 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.

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, 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 Congress or BJP governments, the central leadership did not interfere in state affairs the way AAP was doing.

On Sunday, Pathanmajra had 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.