Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) MLA Harmeet Singh Pathanmajra was arrested by Punjab Police from Gwalior, more than six months after he escaped police custody in connection with a rape case.
Officials said on Wednesday that Pathanmajra, a first-time legislator from Sanour in Patiala district, was apprehended late on Tuesday night. He has since been brought back to Patiala and will be produced before a local court, according to Senior Superintendent of Police Varun Sharma.
The case against Pathanmajra dates back to September 1, 2025, when a complaint was registered at the Civil Lines police station in Patiala. He faces charges of rape, cheating and criminal intimidation based on allegations made by a woman from Zirakpur.
In her complaint, the woman alleged that Pathanmajra falsely presented himself as a divorcee, entered into a relationship with her, and later married her in 2021, despite already being married. She further accused him of continued sexual exploitation, issuing threats and sending obscene material.
After failing to appear before authorities, Pathanmajra was declared a proclaimed offender, and a look-out circular was issued against him. He had been absconding since September 2, when he managed to escape from police custody during an operation in Karnal, Haryana.
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According to police, a team had reached Dabri village in Karnal district to arrest him, but the situation escalated as his supporters allegedly fired gunshots and pelted stones, enabling him to flee. Pathanmajra, however, denied these allegations, claiming he escaped because he feared being killed in a ‘fake encounter’.
In November last year, he appeared in a video interview with an Australia-based Punjabi web channel, stating that he would return only after securing bail. Rejecting all charges, he described the case as a ‘political conspiracy’ intended to silence him.
He also levelled accusations against the AAP’s Delhi leadership, claiming that state ministers and MLAs were side-lined in decision-making. In another video, he suggested he was being targeted for raising concerns against Delhi-based leaders and holding an IAS officer accountable for flood-related issues in the previous year.
To track him down, Punjab Police had constituted multiple teams, including units from the Anti-Gangster Task Force. Raids were conducted across several states, including Punjab, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh and Delhi, before his eventual arrest in Gwalior.
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