'Staged police encounter was planned...' Fugitive AAP MLA denies firing on Punjab cops

Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) MLA Harmeet Singh Dhillon Pathanmajra, who escaped a police team in Haryana on Tuesday, released a video from an unknown location on Wednesday, denying that he had fired at police during his evasion. Pathanmajra, who is wanted in connection with an alleged rape case, claimed that the Punjab Police was planning “to eliminate him in a fake encounter.”

The dramatic events began on Tuesday when Pathanmajra was reportedly in Dabri village in Haryana's Karnal district. According to police sources, he was about to be arrested in a rape case filed by a Zirakpur woman when villagers and unidentified individuals allegedly attacked the police team with stones and gunfire, allowing the MLA to escape in an SUV. A police official was reportedly injured in the incident.

Allegations of 'staged encounter'

In his video, the first-time MLA from Sanour claimed that a massive police force of 400-500 personnel, including multiple superintendents of police and deputy SPs, was deployed to make him look like a gangster.

"My sources in the police told me that my staged police encounter was planned," he said, accusing a "Delhi lobby" within the party of targeting him and urging fellow Punjab MLAs to resist "outside interference destabilising the state". Questioning the police action, he asked whether he had confronted them, scuffled, or fired any gunshot, while alleging that the force was “acting on Delhi leaders’ directions."

Invoking history, he said, "If invaders like Abdali couldn’t scare Punjab, how can Delhi’s leaders suppress us?"

Rape Allegations and Ongoing Hunt

The FIR against Pathanmajra was filed by a woman who accused him of rape, cheating, and criminal intimidation. She alleged that he "misrepresented himself as divorced, entered into a relationship, and married her in 2021 while still married."

Police have confirmed that the Anti-Gangster Task Force (AGTF) has been deployed to track the fugitive MLA. The police have since seized one of the getaway vehicles and arrested an accomplice.

Despite the conflicting reports on the gunshots -- with Karnal Police suggesting they may have been 'air shots' -- Pathanmajra remains on the run.