Fugitive Punjab AAP MLA Harmeet Singh Pathanmajra still on the run, hunt on to nab him

Patiala: The hunt for Punjab AAP MLA and rape accused Harmeet Singh Pathanmajra intensified on Thursday, two days after he escaped police custody amid high drama, officials said.

A team of the Punjab Police's Anti-Gangster Task Force (AGTF), specially trained in carrying out operations against gangsters and notorious criminals, has been deputed to nab the Sanour MLA, whose comments against his party put him bang in the centre of controversy, they said.

The first-time MLA escaped from custody on Tuesday with police claiming that gunshots were fired and stones hurled by his supporters when a team went to arrest him in Dabri village in Haryana's Karnal district. He was at a relative's home at the time.

He released a video message from an undisclosed destination on Wednesday, denying police claims of being involved in the firing and declaring that he fled after learning he would be killed in a "fake encounter".

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

The case was registered based 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 her in 2021 while already being married.

She accused him of continued sexual exploitation, threats and sending "obscene" material to her.

After the FIR was filed, Pathanmajra went live on Facebook on Tuesday, strongly criticising the Punjab government and alleging that the Delhi-based AAP leadership was "illegitimately ruling over Punjab".

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

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

He said he raised the issue in the Punjab Assembly several times, submitted deputations, and personally met Principal Secretary (Water Resources) Krishan Kumar many times, but "not a single meaningful step was taken." 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On Monday, Pathanmajra claimed that his security had been withdrawn and that all station house officers and police post heads in his constituency had been transferred.