Two FIRs have been filed against Rajya Sabha MP Sandeep Pathak in Punjab days after he left the AAP and switched over to the BJP, sources told HT. While it is not yet clear why the cases have been registered against the lawmaker, government sources said they have been filed under non-bailable sections.
Amid reports of the FIRs on Saturday, Pathak was seen leaving his Delhi residence. When approached for questions, the Rajya Sabha MP was seen leaving in his car.
"Punjab Police is making efforts to arrest the accused as FIRs have been registered under non-bailable sections", government sources said. Sandeep Pathak is among the seven Rajya Sabha MPs who recently quit the AAP and joined the BJP.
Other leaders who made the switch were - Raghav Chadha, Swati Maliwal, Rajinder Gupta, Vikramjit Sahney, Harbhajan Singh and Ashok Mittal. Everyone except Maliwal is an MP from Punjab and their big BJP move lowered the AAP's Rajya Sabha tally from 10 to three, rendering the party a huge blow with just months left for elections in Punjab.
Sandeep Pathak was closely associated with the workings of the AAP in Punjab and is even credited with steering the party towards a decisive win against Congress in 2022 Assembly elections.
The cases against Sandeep Pathak come days after another rebel AAP leader, Rajinder Gupta, faced action in Punjab. Officials from the Punjab Pollution Control Board (PPCB) raided Trident Group's Dhaula unit. Gupta is the founder of the textile major.
"The team collected samples of discharged effluent, groundwater, and other relevant materials, to ensure strict compliance with environmental safety standards," a PPCB official had said, as stated in an earlier HT report.
The action was labelled "vendetta politics" by the BJP as it accused the AAP of targeting Gupta because he quit the party.
