Chandigarh, Jan 31 (PTI) Shiromani Akali Dal on Friday demanded a judicial probe into the attempt to vandalise B R Ambedkar's statue in Amritsar.

SAD held a meeting of its working committee here today to discuss the incident of an attempt to vandalise the statue of B R Ambedkar and also progress of its membership drive.

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The meeting was presided over by SAD's working president Balwinder Singh Bhundar.

After the meeting, senior SAD leader Daljit Singh Cheema said the committee was clear that only a judicial probe could uncover the masterminds behind this act.

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"This probe should be initiated at the earliest besides taking action against civil administration and police officials who had failed in their duty to protect the statue on the occasion of Republic Day when the entire State was in a state of high alert," Cheema said.

On the issue of bid to damage the statue of Ambedkar in Amritsar, Cheema had on Thursday said it was part of a "preplanned and premeditated conspiracy" to disturb peace and communal harmony in the state.

Police on January 26 arrested Akash Singh, a resident of Dharamkot in Punjab's Moga district, for allegedly attempting to damage BR Ambedkar's statue at the Town Hall on Heritage Street that leads to the Golden Temple in Amritsar.

Meanwhile, according to a SAD statement, briefing the Working Committee with regard to the membership drive undertaken by the party, Cheema said as many as 24,440 copies had been disbursed and that this amounted to 24.44 lakh individual leaflets.

He said since there was still a huge demand for more copies, it had been decided to print another 10,000 copies so that the same could be distributed amongst the party members at the earliest.

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