Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) legislator for Punjab, Harmit Singh Pathanmajra, who has been on the run since September 2 in connection with rape allegations, has reportedly fled to Australia. This development follows his recent appearance in an online interview.
The situation turned out to be a significant embarrassment for the police as the Sanour MLA remained at large despite raids on his various potential hideouts.
The Patiala police had earlier issued an alert against the AAP politician. Posters detailing the Sanour MLA were put up outside his official residence, private house and bus stand in Patiala.
Pathanmajr’s lawyers Bikramjit Singh Bhullar and SS Saggu said they would soon approach the Punjab and Haryana High Court seeking the MLA’s anticipatory bail.
Pathanmajra appeared in a video interview with an Australian Punjabi web channel on Friday in which he claimed he would “return home only after securing bail”.
He denied all the allegations and called the case a “political conspiracy” to silence the voices that speak for the people of Punjab.
“In Punjab, ministers and MLAs are not consulted on key issues. Freedom of speech is curtailed. After losing in Delhi, these leaders have now taken control of Punjab and are destroying it in the same way,” he alleged while expressing full confidence in the judiciary.
The Patiala Magistrate’s Court has already initiated absconding proceedings against Pathanmajr after he failed to appear in court on rape charges.
The former lawmaker had earlier managed to escape from police custody when the Punjab Police traveled to Karnal in Haryana to arrest him.
Police subsequently claimed that the politician’s supporters fired and pelted stones after a squad went to arrest him at Dabri village in Karnal district, where he was staying at a relative’s residence.
Pathanmajra, however, denied any involvement in the shooting and claimed that he fled after realizing that he would be killed in a “fake encounter”.
Police on September 1 filed a formal case against the AAP MLA at the Civil Lines police station in Patiala on charges including rape, fraud and intimidation.
The case was registered on the complaint of a woman from Zirakpur who alleged that the MLA falsely pretended to be a divorcee, had a relationship with her and then went through with the marriage ceremony in 2021 while being a bigamist. She further accused him of continued sexual exploitation, threats and sending “obscene” material.
