Patiala:, May 26 -- A local court on Monday granted bail to Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) MLA from Sanaur, Harmeet Singh Pathanmajra, in a September 2025 mining case registered at Julkan police station. However, the legislator will continue to remain lodged in Bathinda Central Jail as he is also facing charges in a separate sexual harassment case. Advocate Girimer Singh Sandhu, counsel for the MLA, alleged that the illegal mining case was registered only to keep Pathanmajra behind bars in the event of him securing bail in the harassment case. "There was no recovery from the MLA and no private witness in the case. The FIR was lodged only to facilitate his re-arrest if he got bail in the other case," Sandhu claimed. Pathanmajra was booked by Julkan police under the Mining Act on September 5, days after he allegedly evaded arrest from the residence of a relative, Gurnam Singh Laddi, a member of the Haryana Sikh Gurdwara Management Committee, in Karnal district's Dabri village. The FIR was registered under Section 61(2) (criminal conspiracy) of the BNS and Sections 21(1) (punishment for illegal mining activites) and 4(1) (prohibit illegal mining without government permission) of the Mines and Minerals (Development and Regulation) Act. The 50-year-old first-time MLA was held on March 24 from the outskirts of Gwalior in Madhya Pradesh and brought to Patiala the following day. Though bail order offers relief in mining case, it does not affect his custody due to the pending sexual harassment case....