Maharashtra police on Tuesday turned in a report, which points out many unlawful activities pertaining to controversial televangelist Zakir Naik’s Islamic Research Foundation (IRF), to the state’s chief minister, reports The Indian Express.
“The government [Maharashtra state government] has received a report on Zakir Naik from the commissioner of police of Mumbai. There are many indictments in the report. Many unlawful activities have been pointed out pertaining to the organisation of which Zakir Naik is the leader,” said CM Devendra Fadnavis while briefing reporters.
Fadnavis said certain activities are attributed to Zakir Naik as well in the report.
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“The Maharashtra government is studying the report and will soon share report with the MHA [Indian Ministry of Home Affairs]. There are certain activities attributed to Zakir Naik as well. In consultation with the MHA, we will decide the further course of action which we need to take,” said the CM.
The Maharashtra police initiated action against Naik after reports suggested that the Dhaka militants who killed 23 people at a restaurant in Gulshan on July 1 used to follow Zakir Naik. Security agencies have said that he inspired several terrorists in India as well.
His Peace TV was banned in Bangladesh last month after an investigation while the government is also inspecting the controversial activities of a number of unauthorised "Peace" schools set up in Dhaka and elsewhere.
Zakir’s Naik’s most controversial speech revolves around his defence of Osama bin Laden. “If he [Laden] is terrorising America the terrorist [then] I’m with him,” argues Naik. “Every Muslim should be a terrorist," this was the speech shared by Rohan Imitiaz, one of the Dhaka militants killed in Operation Thunderbolt on July 2.
MHA to inspect Naik's organisation
Earlier, the MHA on Monday issued an inspection notice to Islamic Research Foundation for alleged Foreign Contribution Regulation Act (FCRA) violations, The Hindu reported quoting a senior official of the ministry.
The notice is the first step towards suspending or revoking the FCRA registration of any NGO or organisation.
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This is one of the first legal actions initiated by the Indian government against the televangelist, after he came under the scanner for allegedly inspiring some of the Gulshan cafe attackers through his speeches.
Two Mumbai-based educational organisations, Islamic Research Foundation and IRF Educational Trust, are registered under the Foreign Contribution Regulation Act (FCRA). The two NGOs have received foreign funds to the tune of Rs10cr in the past decade. The funds came mostly from Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates.
Saudi Arabia awarded him with the 2015 King Faisal International Prize (KFIP) for Service to Islam.
“We have issued an inspection notice to IRF. We will inspect their books of accounts to see whether the provisions of the FCRA were violated or not. If we find discrepancies, the next step is to put it under temporary suspension and all the foreign donations will then have to be routed through MHA. We will give them time to respond and if we are not satisfied with the reply, the NGO’s registration can be cancelled,” said the official.
Donations were also made by individual donors from countries like Qatar, Oman, Kuwait, Indonesia, the US the UK, Canada, Australia, Switzerland, New Zealand, Singapore, Mauritius, Kenya and Nigeria. A Hong-Kong based religious NGO also funded the Foundation, which had received Rs9.3m from just one individual from the United Arab Emirates in 2007-08.
Naik, a popular but controversial Islamic orator and founder of Mumbai-based Islamic Research Foundation, is banned in UK and Canada for his controversial speech aimed against other religions. He is among 16 banned Islamic scholars in Malaysia. He is wildly popular in Bangladesh through his Peace TV although his preaching often demeans other religions and even other Muslim sects, the report said.
With his speeches and teachings, Naik has garnered over 14m followers on Facebook and around 200m viewers of Peace TV.
In a July 2008 Peace TV broadcast, Naik suggested that al-Qaeda was not responsible for flying hijacked airliners into New York's World Trade Center on September 11, 2001, killing almost 3,000 people.
“Even a fool will know that this was an inside job,” he said in the video, claiming then US president George W Bush was behind the attacks.
In 2010, Naik was reportedly barred from entering Britain after the home secretary cited “numerous comments” which showed his “unacceptable behaviour.”
Islamic scholars in Bangladesh last year demanded
banning Peace TV saying it was misleading Muslims.
In a series of fatwas or edicts, India's influential Darul Uloom Deoband asked Muslims
not to follow him.
