After posting updates in bits and pieces on his social media handle regarding the CBI raids on the Punjab Vigilance Bureau and the alleged escape of OP Rana, personal reader to state Vigilance chief Sharad Satya Chauhan, Shiromani Akali Dal leader Bikram Singh Majithia described the crackdown as merely the “tip of the iceberg.”He said an in-depth probe would reveal how the Vigilance department had allegedly become a “den of corruption” and was being “misused to implicate opposition leaders and conduct raids on their residences”.Majithia alleged that the entire episode could be linked to an intense power struggle within the police department, with officials targeting one another in a bid to secure the top post of Director General of Police (DGP).Sharad Satya Chauhan, who was appointed Director of the Punjab Vigilance Bureau last month after nearly a decade away from key postings, is the senior-most officer in the panel sent to the Union Public Service Commission (UPSC) in April for shortlisting candidates for the DGP post.Speaking to reporters here, Majithia said he was shocked at the manner in which the accused private individuals were allegedly aided in evading trap operations by being provided AK-47-wielding Punjab Police gunmen.He said this was evident when accused Vikas Goel and Raghav Goel were arrested by the CBI near Ambala in the company of two armed gunmen.Questioning who approved official security for “private middlemen”, the SAD leader demanded a thorough inquiry into the alleged political protection being extended to such individuals.On the issue of Goel’s alleged links with the BJP’s top leadership, Majithia accused the ruling party of employing diversionary tactics to shift focus away from the rampant corruption within the police department.Goel, he alleged, was operating as a broker and was caught while negotiating a deal with OP Rana, who reports to Vigilance Chief Chauhan.Meanwhile, SAD president Sukhbir Singh Badal also slammed the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) over alleged rampant corruption. He said the party had come to power with a promise to end corruption.“The sitting minister has been picked up by the Enforcement Directorate for being involved in shady dealings. We are now seeing the Central Bureau of Investigation carrying out a raid at the Vigilance Bureau office — an agency tasked with combating corruption — and nabbing the personal reader of Vigilance Chief DGP Sharad Satya Chauhan,” Badal said.