'Will return after getting bail': Accused of rape, AAP’s Punjab MLA flees to Australia
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Chandigarh: Patiala police issued a look-out notice for Harmit Singh Pathanmajra, the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) MLA in Punjab, as he reportedly fled to Australia after being accused in a rape case, NDTV reported.
Harmit Singh Pathanmajra, who has been on the run since September 2, told an Australia-based Punjabi web channel on Friday that he would ‘return home only after securing bail’.
The Sanour MLA remains elusive causing huge embarrassment to the police but he still claimed the allegations against him were part of a ‘political conspiracy’.
Alongside expressing faith in judiciary, he said: ‘In Punjab, ministers and MLAs are not consulted on key matters. Freedom of speech is being curtailed. After losing in Delhi, those leaders have now taken over Punjab, and they are ruining it the same way.’
After he failed to appear in the case, Patiala court has already initiated proceedings against the AAP leader.
The MLA reportedly escaped when the police went to arrest him in Karnal in Haryana.
It is reported citing police that the legislator's supporters fired gunshots and pelted stones as the police reached the Dabri village of Karnal district.
Pathanmajra was at a relative's residence when police arrived there.
Denying any involvement in firing, the AAP leader claimed the left the country learning that he would be killed in a ‘fake encounter’.
Following the complaint by a Zirakpur-based woman, the police charged the AAP MLA with rape, cheating, and criminal intimidation at the Civil Lines police station.
The woman accused the MLA of continued sexual exploitation, threats, and sending ‘obscene’ material to her.