PATIALA: AAP MLA Harmeet Singh Pathanmajra has allegedly escaped police custody while being taken to a local police station after his arrest. According to Punjab Police sources, Pathanmajra and his accomplices fired at police officers during the escape and even ran over one personnel, leaving him injured. Police say a manhunt is under way. The Sanour MLA was arrested a day after publicly criticising his party’s Delhi leadership. His detention in Patiala was linked to a rape case filed against him, sparking political uproar in the region. In a social media post, Pathanmajra claimed the case related to his former wife and alleged that the fresh charges of rape were politically motivated. “I was booked because I raised my voice against my own government, especially the Delhi leadership,” he wrote. His brother, Hardev Singh, said the MLA was taken into custody under Section 376 of the IPC despite already having been granted bail by the Punjab and Haryana High Court. “He was arrested from Dabri in Haryana in a case where bail was already granted. This is clearly an attempt to silence him,” he alleged. Before his arrest, Pathanmajra had appealed to colleagues and supporters via Facebook to protest outside the Patiala SSP’s office at the Mini Secretariat. He urged people to reach “in tractors, trolleys, and cars” to demand his release. “I will not be silenced even if more cases are registered against me. Will AAP’s Delhi leadership rule Punjabis now? Even Congress and BJP did not interfere to this extent,” he said. The MLA has repeatedly accused the party’s central leadership of sidelining Punjab leaders and “remote-controlling” the state. Recently, he criticised officials of the Irrigation Department over flood relief efforts in his constituency. Soon after, his security cover was withdrawn and police officers in the area were reshuffled — moves that raised eyebrows. “This is retaliation. They looted Punjab more than Abdali. Now they want to sell Punjab,” Pathanmajra declared. His arrest has highlighted growing tensions within AAP’s Punjab unit. In recent months, several MLAs have spoken against the party’s decision-making structure, with some facing disciplinary action or expulsion. With protests now called in Patiala, the controversy appears set to escalate, drawing attention not only to the legal case against Pathanmajra but also to wider questions of governance, party unity and centralisation of power within AAP.
