Chandigarh: The ruling Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) MLA from Sanaur of Punjab’s Patiala district, Harmeet Singh Pathanmajra, who had fled on Tuesday from his relative’s house in Karnal’s Dabri village, minutes after the Punjab police reached there to arrest him in connection with an alleged rape case, on Wednesday alleged that he evaded arrested as he had been informed that he would be killed in a staged police encounter.
Stating that he did not get into any confrontation with police or indulged in firing to flee from the spot, the accused MLA said in two videos released from unknown locations, that he escaped through another exit as the police fired at the vehicle he was sitting in.
Appealing again to other AAP MLAs and ministers to stand against "external forces’’ who were trying to destabilise Punjab, Pathanmajra again accused some AAP top leaders from Delhi of plotting a crackdown against him.
It may be recalled that the legislator Pathanmajra faces a case of rape, cheating and criminal intimidation registered against him on Monday in Punjab on the basis of a complaint lodged in 2022 by a woman, resident of Patiala’s Zirakpur town who alleged that he had entered into a relationship with her stating that he was divorced in 2021, while he was still being married. She accused him of continued sexual exploitation, threats and sending "obscene’’ material to her.
Surprisingly, the said police action also came a day after the security of the accused MLA was withdrawn. Also, it followed after he on Sunday slammed chief minister Bhagwant Mann government for poor preparedness to handle flood situation in Punjab.
