Harmit Singh Pathanmajra, the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) legislator from Sanaur, triggered a political storm on Tuesday after dramatically slipping out of Punjab Police custody in Haryana’s Karnal, hours after being booked in a rape case. Gunshots rang out, a policeman was injured, and the MLA sped away in a white SUV with his aides, leaving the police red-faced. The sensational escape unfolded barely days after Pathanmajra had launched a blistering attack on his own party’s Delhi leadership and a senior State bureaucrat over Punjab’s flood crisis, fueling allegations that the action against him was politically motivated.
The MLA was booked late Monday night at Patiala’s Civil Lines police station after his estranged wife accused him of rape, cheating and criminal intimidation. She claimed that the alleged offence was committed from February 12, 2014, to June 12, 2024.
Acting swiftly, a Punjab Police team traced him to Dabri village in Haryana’s Karnal district, reportedly at the residence of his relatives and took him into custody. But locals and his supporters allegedly ambushed the convoy, opening fire and ramming a police official with a vehicle. Amid the chaos, Pathanmajra managed to escape in an SUV, while another aide was caught with arms and ammunition from a seized SUV.
Just before his arrest, Pathanmajra released a defiant pre-recorded video message, alleging that the FIR was the result of his outspoken criticism of bureaucrats and Delhi leaders in the AAP. “First, my security cover was withdrawn, and now they have booked me under false rape charges. This is revenge for speaking up for Punjab,” he declared, urging fellow legislators and the public to gherao Patiala’s Deputy Commissioner and SSP offices. He was also heard saying that the Punjab Police had come to arrest him in Haryana. Pathanmajra, in a TV interview, minced no words to claim that he possessed sexually explicit videos of AAP’s Delhi leaders and accused the party of framing him. “I knew this was coming. They will misuse power against me, but I will fight it in court. A kabaddi match has begun between Delhi and Punjab,” he said.
He further alleged that AAP had forced at least five MLAs to sign undated resignation letters to keep them under control. “This is why no Minister or MLA dares to speak out,” he said while accusing Delhi leaders of “ruling Punjab by remote control” and warned that silence among MLAs would only embolden the high command further.
AAP, meanwhile, scrambled to contain the embarrassment. Party spokesperson Baltej Pannu confirmed that Pathanmajra had been detained but “absconded” from custody, adding that weapons had been recovered from his vehicle. He maintained that the case was based on a woman’s complaint, who claimed to have married the MLA in a gurdwara in 2021 and later accused him of forcing unwanted relations.
Pannu said that in the last week of August, the complainant alleged that Pathanmajra was again pressuring her for contact, and when she threatened to approach the police, he panicked. Anticipating action, the MLA reportedly reached out to the AAP’s Delhi leadership but received no assurance, with party supremo Arvind Kejriwal said to have “zero tolerance for the three Cs — crime, corruption and character.”
“Realising his imminent arrest, Pathanmajra launched an attention-diversion tactic by raising the flood issue and attacking senior officials…His aides circulated videos suggesting action was coming…The complainant also alleged that he possessed objectionable photos and videos of her and threatened to leak them if she went to the police. So, based on her complaint, he has been booked for rape and intimidation,” said Pannu, adding that the party has yet to decide on disciplinary action against the legislator.
The MLA’s lawyer, however, painted a different picture. Advocate Bikramjit Singh Bhullar argued that the FIR, registered on September 1, 2025 on the complaint of a Zirakpur-resident, was “an outcome of the MLA’s outburst” against bureaucrats and his party. “The complainant herself faces multiple FIRs under the IT Act. The matter is already pending before the High Court. Yet, within hours of Pathanmajra criticizing officials over floods, he is suddenly booked for rape in a decade-old dispute. This is a misuse of the system and reeks of vendetta,” Bhullar contended.
What appears to have turned the tide against him was his recent offensive against the Mann Government over the floods. Pathanmajra accused Principal Secretary (Water Resources) Krishan Kumar of blocking pre-monsoon desilting and embankment work, holding him responsible for Punjab’s devastation. “If he comes in the way, we will bury him in a ditch,” the MLA thundered at a public meeting, a remark that reportedly enraged both the bureaucracy and the party’s top brass. Soon after, his security was downgraded and eight local SHOs transferred - moves the MLA described as intimidation.
Pathanmajra claimed that AAP had coerced several of its legislators into signing undated resignation letters to keep them in check. “This is a coup to suppress Punjab’s voice. Delhiwallas do not understand our ground realities. If MLAs unite, we can turn the tables,” he said in another video message, even suggesting that he could “do a coup” against the party’s leadership.
As of now, Pathanmajra remains untraceable. Punjab Police have sought the help of Haryana Police to track him down, even as they prepare to register fresh cases for firing on police and injuring a constable during his escape. The AAP leadership insisted that it is committed to its zero-tolerance stand, while the MLA continues to project himself as a victim of vendetta.