Chandigarh, Nov 17 (IANS): Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) President Sukhbir Badal on Friday sent a legal notice to Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann asking him to submit a written apology within five days with regard to malicious utterances made by him.

In the legal notice, Badal said the Chief Minister had deliberately made an "outlandish" statement on November 1 at a so-called one-man debate held in Punjab Agriculture University in Ludhiana that the Badal family had compromised Punjab’s river water interests for personal gains.

The notice said the Chief Minister had under a conspiracy claimed that a private canal was dug up to provide water to irrigate the Badal family’s lands in Balsar village in Haryana. The notice also mentioned that the Chief Minister has resorted to damage the reputation of the family by making wild allegations about the family’s transport business.

The notice, through advocate Arshdeep Singh Kler, said all this had been done by the Chief Minister in a pre-planned manner with the sole objective to malign the personal, social and political reputation of the Badal family.