CHANDIGARH: With less than a year to go for the Punjab Assembly elections, and the Aam Aadmi Party striving to retain its “clean image”, fugitive AAP MLA Harmeet Singh Pathanmajra—absconding for nearly seven months in a rape case registered last September—was arrested by Punjab Police in Gwalior, Madhya Pradesh, following “technical leads” in an operation codenamed ‘Operation Pathan’.
The first time MLA from Sanour Pathanmajra was nabbed from Gwalior and brought back to Patiala. The legislator was on the run, and it was believed that he had fled to Australia. Two days ago, Punjab Police received a technical lead about a hotel Wi-Fi network being used near Gwalior. Further analysis revealed that a United Kingdom mobile number had been accessed on the network, which was later confirmed to be used by Pathanmajra, sources said.
Then a secret operation codenamed 'Operation Pathan' was conceptualized on Sunday in which intelligence was shared by the state police with the agencies and there was close coordination with counter-intelligence besides inter-state police and thus the legislator was nabbed. This meticulously planned 48-hour operation was led by SP Vaibhav Chaudhary.
The arrest was made by a joint police team involving personnel from multiple wings, including the Anti-Gangster Task Force (AGTF) and Counter-Intelligence of Punjab Police. The MLA had been declared a proclaimed offender by the court after he failed to appear in this case.
Patiala Police had also issued a lookout notice against the legislator, who had been on the run since making remarks against the senior AAP leadership. His arrest had become a challenge for the state police, which was conducting raids across seven states.
Confirming that Pathanmajra has been arrested, Senior Superintendent of Police of Patiala Varun Sharma said, "He was in custody after being nabbed from the outskirts of Gwalior and would be produced before the competent court shortly. For the last few months, six teams from Patiala Police had been working meticulously on every lead, which eventually led us to the accused.’’
Pathanmajra had been absconding since September 1 last year, when a case of rape, cheating, and criminal intimidation was registered against him at the Civil Lines police station in Patiala. The complaint was filed by a woman from Zirakpur, who alleged that the MLA falsely claimed to be divorced, entered into a relationship with her, and married her in 2021 despite already being married.
He had earlier escaped police custody when a Punjab Police team went to Karnal in Haryana to arrest him. The police had then claimed that his supporters fired gunshots and pelted stones at the team during the operation in Dabri village of Karnal district, where he was staying at a relative’s house.
However, Pathanmajra had denied the claims and said he fled after learning that he would be killed in a "fake encounter".
The Punjab government had withdrawn his security cover a day before the attempted arrest. Also, another case was registered by the Patiala Police against 15 individuals alleged to have aided his escape.
A day after the incident, the Punjab government deployed the Anti-Gangster Task Force to track down the fugitive legislator. The raids were conducted across Punjab, Haryana, Delhi, Himachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan, and Madhya Pradesh, but Pathanmajra evaded arrest for months.
During this period, he continued to engage with the media through video messages, reiterating claims of innocence and alleging political vendetta. In October last year, a Patiala court rejected his anticipatory bail application, and a revised plea was dismissed in early December 2025. In the same month, the court declared Pathanmajra a proclaimed person under Section 85 of the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita (BNSS).
In January this year, his official government accommodation in Patiala was vacated by the administration after district officials asked his family to leave the Passey Road premises.
The image of AAP was subsequently damaged in this case as the party swept to power in 2022 with a 92-seat majority on a platform of clean governance and anti-corruption.
The arrest came two days after the detention of former Cabinet minister Laljit Singh Bhullar from Mandi Gobindgarh in the suicide case of Punjab State Warehousing Corporation official, Gagandeep Singh Randhawa. In the last four years that AAP has been in power, several other MLAs have turned out to be an embarrassment for the party. But the biggest dent to the party image was made by Pathanmajra, who remained absconding to this day.