Absconding AAP MLA Harmeet Singh Pathanmajra Arrested in Gwalior Following a Seven-Month Manhunt for Rape, Cheating, and Evading Police Custody; Remanded for Four Days

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Absconding Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) MLA Harmeet Singh Pathanmajra was apprehended in Madhya Pradesh’s Gwalior on Tuesday, March 24, 2026, after evading arrest for nearly seven months. Varun Sharma, Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP), Patiala, informed the media on Wednesday that the 50-year-old legislator was arrested on the outskirts of Gwalior late Tuesday night by a joint team of the district police and specialized wings

Pathanmajra was arrested along with his three associates, and after being transported back to Patiala, he was produced before a Court which sent him to a four day police remand, SSP Sharma added. He also informed that local intelligence reported his whereabouts, which led to the subsequent arrest.

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Harmanjeet Singh Pathanmajra is a first time MLA of Sanour, Punjab. He was elected to his constituency defeating Shiromani Akali Dal’s (SAD) candidate Harinder Pal Singh Chandumajra in 2022 Punjab legislative assembly elections. 

Rape And Cheating Allegations

Pathanmajra had fled away from the police on September 2, 2025, a day after an FIR against him was filed. The Patiala Police had booked Pathanmajra under various sections of the IPC (Indian Penal Code), including Sections 376 (rape), 420 (cheating), and 506 (criminal intimidation) on September 1, 2026. The FIR was based on the complaint filed by a 45 year old woman from Zirakpur, who alleged that Pathanmajra had deceived her. 

The woman accused that Pathanmajra had been in a relationship with her since 2013. She claimed that Pathanmajra misrepresented himself as a divorced man, and married her in a gurudwara in 2021. The woman also accused him of continued sexual exploitation, and stated that he threatened her with making her private pictures and videos public.

Apart from the cases registered above, Pathanmajra also faces charges of escaping from police custody and firing on police personnel who were there to arrest him. When a team of the Patiala Police went to nab him after the initial FIR was registered, he managed to escape from custody. Reportedly, he was helped by his supporters in firing upon the police, who also pelted stones at them. The incident happened on September 2, 2025, in Dabri village in Haryana’s Karnal, where he was traced by the Police.

Allegations Against AAP Central Leadership

Pathanmajra however later refuted the police claims, claiming that he fled because he learned that he would be killed in a fake encounter. He earlier had accused the AAP leadership in Delhi of excessive interference in Punjab affairs. His arrest comes two days after former transport minister Laljit Singh Bhullar from AAP was picked up from Mandi Gobindgarh in connection with a case of allegedly abetting the suicide of a warehousing corporation official, Gagandeep Singh Randhawa, in Amritsar.

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Sixth AAP MLA To Face Arrest

With this, Pathanmajra has become the sixth Punjab AAP MLA to be arrested since the party came to power in 2022. Earlier, in May 2022, then health minister Vijay Singla was arrested on corruption charges. Bathinda Rural MLA Amit Rattan Kotfatta was held in a bribery case in February 2023. In May 2025, Jalandhar Central MLA Raman Arora was arrested in a corruption case linked to a municipal corporation official, while Khadoor Sahib MLA Manjinder Singh Lalpura was taken into custody after being convicted in a 2013 molestation and assault case last September.

(Rh)

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