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Punjab AAP MLA escapes from police custody, aide held with weapons in Karnal
Days after speaking up against Bhagwant Mann govt’s lack of flood preparedness, Sanour MLA Pathanmajra faces fresh FIR in old rape case. In FB live, alleges vendetta for demanding water resources secretary Krishan Kumar’s removal.
In a dramatic turn of events, Sanour AAP MLA Harmeet Singh Pathanmajra, 50, fled from his relative and HSGMC member Gurnam Singh Laadi’s house at Dabri village in Karnal early on Tuesday minutes after a Punjab Police team arrived to arrest him in connection with a rape case.
Patiala crime investigation agency (CIA) in-charge Pradeep Bajwa said: “We had arrested Pathanmajra when villagers and some miscreants started pelting stones and opened fire at the police team. Taking advantage of the commotion, the AAP MLA fled from the spot.”
Bajwa said the police team managed to arrest the MLA’s accomplice, Balwinder Singh, and claimed that three weapons were recovered from him. His sports utility vehicle was also impounded.
“Efforts are on to arrest MLA Pathanmajra, who is on the run,” the Patiala CIA in-charge said.
A police personnel was injured when one the vehicle in which the MLA escaped tried to run over him, Bajwa said, adding the injured cop is under treatment and his condition is to be stable.
The police action came a day after Pathanmajra’s security cover was withdrawn for publicly taking on the Bhagwant Mann-led Aam Aadmi Party government for poor flood preparedness in Punjab. The AAP MLA had on Sunday accused Punjab water resources principal secretary Krishan Kumar of misguiding chief minister Mann and failing to ensure timely desilting of rivers, particularly Ghaggar and Tangri rivers, which had aggravated the flood situation in his constituency.
The MLA was staying at the house of Haryana Sikh Gurdwara Management Committee (HSGMC) member Laadi since Monday. According to Haryana Police, Pathanmajra’s whereabouts are unknown.
The AAP MLA has said that he is ready to face the consequence for his outburst against the government and Krishan Kumar, who he held responsible for the worst floods Punjab is seeing in decades.
Before fleeing, Pathanmajra went live on Facebook and announced that he was being booked in an old rape complaint. He appealed to his fellow AAP legislators to raise their voice against the party high command from Delhi “for their constant interference in the state’s affairs and to save Punjab”.
He also asked his supporters and well-wishers to reach the Patiala district police chief’s office and protest against the action against him. “This is the price I’m paying for speaking up for Punjab. They are mistaken if they can crush my voice by filing false cases against me. Come what may, I will still speak up for Punjab,” the defiant leader said before his arrest.
In the first information report (FIR) registered against Pathanmajra at 11pm on Monday, a copy of which is with HT, he has been booked under Sections 376, 420 and 506 of Indian Penal Code (IPC). The fresh FIR was registered based on the complaint lodged by a Zirakpur resident in 2022 in which she stated that Pathanmajra had married her in August 2021 without divorcing his first wife. She claimed he had cheated her as she was told before the wedding that he had formally got a divorce.
The Sanaur MLA is the fourth AAP MLA in Punjab to be arrested by the state police and Vigilance Bureau. The VB had arrested former health minister and Mansa MLA Vijay Singla for corruption in May 2022, while Bathinda Rural AAP MLA Amit Rattan Kotfatta was caught by the VB in a corruption case on February 23, 2023.
On May 24 this year, the VB arrested Jalandhar Central MLA Raman Arora in a corruption case that also involved a municipal corporation official.
