Chandigarh: Aam Aadmi Party’s (AAP) Sanaur legislator Harmeet Singh Pathanmajra has become the sixth party MLA arrested by Punjab Police or vigilance authorities during the Bhagwant Mann government’s tenure.
Police arrested Pathanmajra and his three accomplices from Gwalior in Madhya Pradesh on Tuesday night in connection with a case of rape and criminal intimidation. He had been absconding since September 2 last year and was declared a proclaimed offender.
His arrest comes just two days after former cabinet minister and Patti AAP MLA Laljit Singh Bhullar was arrested from Mandi Gobindgarh in Fatehgarh Sahib district on Monday. Bhullar had resigned from the state cabinet on Saturday after an Amritsar warehouse district manager, Gagandeep Singh Randhawa, died by suicide, accusing the minister and two others of harassment in his suicide note.
AAP general secretary and chief spokesperson Baltej Pannu said Pathanmajra’s arrest reiterates the state government’s commitment to the rule of law. “Only yesterday, chief minister Bhagwant Mann made it clear that the law is the same for everyone, whether mantri (minister) or santri (constable). Unlike previous regimes, our government neither supports nor shields anyone. First Bhullar and then Pathanmajra—what more proof does one need?” Pannu said.
Previous arrests of AAP legislators
The following AAP legislators in Punjab have been arrested by state agencies over the last few years: The Vigilance Bureau (VB) arrested then health minister and Mansa MLA Vijay Singla for corruption in May 2022, while Bathinda Rural MLA Amit Rattan Kotfatta was arrested by the VB in a corruption case in February 2023. Jalandhar Central MLA Raman Arora was arrested by the VB in a corruption case involving a municipal corporation official in May 2025 and Khadoor Sahib MLA Manjinder Singh Lalpura was arrested in September 2025 following his conviction by a Tarn Taran court in a 12-year-old case involving the molestation and assault of a woman.
