Amid high drama, Punjab AAP MLA booked for rape escapes police custody in hail of bullets

Patiala | A high drama was witnessed on Tuesday in Haryana's Karnal when AAP MLA from Punjab Harmeet Singh Pathanmajra escaped police custody amid gunshots and stone pelting by his supporters after his arrest in a rape case, officials said.

Pathanmajra was at the residence of one of his relatives in Dabri village in Karnal district, where a Punjab Police team had gone to arrest him.

"We conducted a raid at Pathanmajra's (relative) residence in Haryana. He was arrested. But a group of villagers and some mischievous elements pelted stones at the police team and fired gunshots," said Pardeep Bajwa, the in-charge of Patiala Crime Investigation Agency (CIA).

The Sanour MLA used the cover fire and stone pelting to escape, he said.

According to the officials, Pathanmajra and his supporters fled in two SUVs -- one was Scorpio and another Fortuner.

A policeman who tried to stop the SUVs was injured after being hit by a vehicle, they said.

Balwinder Singh, an accomplice of the MLA, was arrested with three weapons in his possession, CIA in-charge Bajwa said.

Police later seized the Fortuner, but the MLA managed to flee in the other vehicle.

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

Pathanmajra, a first-time MLA, said so also in a video message on Facebook earlier in the day.

The case was registered 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, Pathanmajra went live on Facebook, strongly criticising the Punjab government and alleging that Delhi-based AAP leadership was "illegitimately ruling over Punjab".

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

"They can lodge FIRs against me, I can stay in jail, but my voice cannot be suppressed," the lawmaker said in the video message.

On Sunday, Pathanmajra accused a senior IAS officer of failing to take such necessary actions as desilting and clean-up of rivers, particularly the Tangri river, despite his requests.

He also alleged the party was trying to suppress Punjab MLAs instead of fixing the administration.

The MLA said he raised the issue in the Punjab Assembly several times, and personally met Principal Secretary (Water Resources) Krishan Kumar, but "not a single meaningful step was taken".

Meanwhile, AAP leader Baltej Singh Pannu said Pathanmajra started speaking against the IAS officer and raising the flood issue after he learnt that the police could take action against him on the woman's complaint.

Addressing the media in Chandigarh, Pannu said the woman, in her complaint, alleged that for the past some time, Pathanmajra had been forcing her to resume their relationship.

In the last week of August, she said she would complain to the police about the overture, said Pannu.

He said that after the woman's threat, Pathanmajra tried to contact some senior leaders of the party.

"As party leader, Arvind Kejriwal, speaks about triple 'C' and one of the 'C' is 'character', the party does not support people in such matters irrespective of the position they hold," he said.

When the MLA learnt that police could take action against him, he started raising the flood issue to divert attention, Pannu said.

The MLA knew that the woman had lodged a police complaint alleging that he claimed to have her private videos and pictures, which he threatened to upload online if she went to the police, the AAP leader said.

On Tuesday, after the MLA was not found in his village, police went to Haryana to arrest him, but he escaped, Pannu said.

He said the party is yet to decide on the action to be taken against him.

Defending the IAS officer, Pannu said it was Kumar whose efforts brought irrigation water to the tail ends of villages, which had not happened in 45 years.

The Congress and the BJP attacked the AAP government, alleging that it did not take action against Pathanmajra on the woman's compliant in 2022 but when the legislator spoke against the Mann dispensation and party leadership, he was booked.

Leader of the Opposition in the Punjab Assembly Partap Singh Bajwa accused the state government of reducing governance in the state to a "crude circus of political extortion and vendetta".

Bajwa said the "shocking" FIR registered against Pathanmajra "exposes not just the moral and legal rot within the ruling party, but also the complete collapse of justice under Mann's leadership".

"The FIR itself makes it clear that the alleged crime dates back from 2014 to June 2024. The complainant approached the authorities in September 2022 with her grievance. Yet, for nearly three years, the Mann government remained deaf and blind to her cries for justice. Why was no action taken then? Why was this MLA not arrested or even questioned for so long," Bajwa asked.

"Suddenly, in September 2025, when Pathanmajra raises his voice against Bhagwant Mann's functioning and criticises the government, the case is dug up, arrests are made, and then miraculously, he even manages to escape police custody. This is not governance. This is nothing but a government of extortion, blackmail, and selective targeting," he alleged.

BJP national general secretary Tarun Chugh too hit out at the AAP government, alleging that its working stands exposed after registering a rape case against Pathanmajra almost three years after the complaint was filed.

Chugh said Mann "slept" over the case for three years but suddenly woke up to it after Pathanmajra openly criticised him and the "Delhi coterie" for their "utter failure" in handling the flood crisis.

"This is nothing but shameful revenge politics," Chugh said, adding that instead of addressing the plight of marooned families, the Mann government is "busy silencing dissent".

On Sunday, as several villages in his constituency were flooded, Pathanmajra lashed out at bureaucrats, telling reporters he had been demanding the clean-up of the Tangri and permission to use soil near the river to strengthen the banks, but to no avail.

He also urged Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann to remove Kumar from his post.

On Monday, Pathanmajra claimed that his security had been withdrawn and that all station house officers and police post heads in his constituency had been transferred.

"I had already told my gunmen yesterday that they would be sent back. The Delhi leaders (of AAP) think they can scare me with vigilance (action) or FIRs, but I will never bow down. I will stand like a rock with my people," he had said.