PATIALA: AAP MLA Harmeet Singh Pathanmajra has allegedly escaped police custody whilst being taken to a neighborhood police station after his arrest. Consistent with Punjab Police resources, Pathanmajra and his accomplices fired at cops all through the get away or even ran over one team of workers, leaving him injured. Police say a manhunt is beneath manner. The Sanour MLA was once arrested an afternoon after publicly criticising his birthday party’s Delhi management. His detention in Patiala was once related to a rape case filed towards him, sparking political uproar within the area. In a social media put up, Pathanmajra claimed the case associated with his former spouse and alleged that the contemporary fees of rape had been politically motivated. “I used to be booked as a result of I raised my voice towards my very own executive, particularly the Delhi management,” he wrote. His brother, Hardev Singh, mentioned the MLA was once taken into custody beneath Segment 376 of the IPC regardless of already having been granted bail via the Punjab and Haryana Prime Courtroom. “He was once arrested from Dabri in Haryana in a case the place bail was once already granted. That is obviously an try to silence him,” he alleged. Ahead of his arrest, Pathanmajra had appealed to colleagues and supporters by way of Fb to protest outdoor the Patiala SSP’s place of job on the Mini Secretariat. He suggested other people to achieve “in tractors, trolleys, and automobiles” to call for his unlock. “I can no longer be silenced although extra circumstances are registered towards me. Will AAP’s Delhi management rule Punjabis now? Even Congress and BJP didn’t intrude to this extent,” he mentioned. The MLA has time and again accused the birthday party’s central management of sidelining Punjab leaders and “remote-controlling” the state. Lately, he criticised officers of the Irrigation Division over flood aid efforts in his constituency. Quickly after, his safety duvet was once withdrawn and cops within the space had been reshuffled — strikes that raised eyebrows. “That is retaliation. They looted Punjab greater than Abdali. Now they need to promote Punjab,” Pathanmajra declared. His arrest has highlighted rising tensions inside of AAP’s Punjab unit. In fresh months, a number of MLAs have spoken towards the birthday party’s decision-making construction, with some going through disciplinary motion or expulsion. With protests now referred to as in Patiala, the debate seems set to escalate, drawing consideration no longer best to the prison case towards Pathanmajra but additionally to wider questions of governance, birthday party harmony and centralisation of energy inside of AAP.