Shiromani Akali Dal president Sukhbir Singh Badal on Tuesday demanded a judicial probe into the alleged conspiracy to divide Punjabis for electoral gains.

In a statement here, the Akali chief demanded a high-level and independent probe, preferably by a judge of the Punjab and Haryana High Court, “into popular belief that there is a deep-rooted conspiracy behind the series of provocative incidents and developments in Punjab in recent months, especially since the announcement of Jalandhar bypoll.”

He said that Punjabis want the devious mastermind behind this conspiracy to be exposed and punished. “Punjabis have the right to know who the mastermind behind those executing these conspiracies is,” he added.

The SAD leader said both the Centre and the Punjab governments should come clean on doubts being expressed over the official version of sensitive events including the so-called manhunt launched by the police (against pro Khalistan leader Amritpal Singh and his supporters), its dubious climax as well as the heinous acts of sacrilege happening one after the other in recent times.

“No one believes the government’s version of these developments. People suspect that an undercover operation is at work to destabilise peace and communal harmony in Punjab for cheap electoral gains both in Jalandhar as well as in the rest of the country. The state and the centre governments must set these doubts at rest with credible and fact-based evidence,” said Badal.

 The SAD chief said, “The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) government is repeatedly enacting dramas to divert attention from its abject failure to govern and ensure peace, communal harmony and development,”.

He said every time the AAP government faces  embarrassing and credible allegations “like  its senior leaders including ministers and MLAs being involved in shameful flesh trade or being caught red handed accepting huge bribes or gangsters giving interviews from jails, the  AAP government  stages one tamasha or the other”.

” To divert attention from the Bishnoi episode, it orders a crackdown against the youth. To drown allegations of flesh trade against AAP leaders, it staged another arrest drama. People then would naturally suspect a link between the heinous Morinda sacrilege on the one hand and questions being raised about the government’s version of the Rode episode (where Amritpal was arrested on Sunday) on the other,” Badal added.

He said a dangerous plot to set Punjab on fire again seems to be at work. “We need to know who is the devious mastermind behind all this,” said the former deputy CM.