Search op on in five states as AAP's rape-accused Punjab MLA evades arrest

A cat and mouse game continues as different units of the Punjab Police continue to scan over 1,500 sq km spread over five states and the national capital to trace AAP Sanaur MLA Harmeet Singh Pathanmajra. The MLA had hoodwinked a Patiala police team on September 2 during a raid at Dabri in Karnal and escaped.

Sources in the Police Department said that in addition to the Patiala police team, a team each from the anti-gangster task force and Counter-Intelligence are on the prowl to arrest the MLA.

“What has made our job tough is the fact that the MLA has totally gone off social media and is not active on his mobile. He has not contacted anyone whom we suspect,” said a senior official attached with the investigation. “We have conducted raids in Uttarakhand, Uttar Pradesh and even Madhya Pradesh, in addition to Delhi, Haryana and Punjab, but there is no trace of him,” he told The Tribune.

The MLA has been on the run for over a week since a police team from Patiala raided the house of his relative and Haryana Sikh Gurdwara Management Committee (HSGMC) member Gurnam Singh Laddi at Dabri village in Karnal on September 2.

Last Tuesday, the police team was made to wait and was served breakfast when the MLA dodged the raiding party and escaped from the spot. The police later claimed that Pathanmajra and his supporters overpowered them, created hurdles and fired gunshots as they fled. However, the MLA later claimed in a video that he escaped fearing an encounter and that no gunshots were fired at anyone.

A day before his escape, the government withdrew his security cover after he urged his fellow MLAs and CM Mann to oppose interference by the Delhi lobby.

A local court in Patiala has deferred the hearing on Pathanmajra’s anticipatory bail plea in a rape case to September 10.

Pathanmajra had filed an anticipatory bail application through his advocates in the district court last week. The court heard the counsel for the state and Pathanmajra today and has adjourned the matter to Wednesday, when a decision is likely on his arrest in the rape case.

The Haryana Police has registered a case against Pathanmajra and his relative, Laddi, for obstruction of discharge of official duty, escape from custody and other charges. Another case was registered in Patiala against 15 accused individuals for allegedly helping the MLA escape.

Pathanmajra was booked in a three-year-old case on charges of rape, cheating and criminal intimidation. Notably, Pathanmajra’s arrest attempt came a day after he criticised the Mann government over its handling of flood relief in Punjab, accusing senior officials of inefficiency.