Mumbai: As investigating agencies gather pace in their probe against him, controversial Islamic preacher Zakir Naik has cancelled his return to India. He was scheduled to return to Mumbai from Saudi Arabia on Monday. According to reports, Naik may issue a video clarification later in the day.
Naik is under scanner following several revelations that link him to militants accused of having carried several terror attacks across the region. Two of the 5 young militants who massacred 20 hostages, including an Indian, at a popular cafe in Bangladesh's capital Dhaka on July 1, drew their inspiration from his speeches, reports have said.
He has also been accused of meeting two brothers from Kerala who went missing from the Middle East and are feared to have joined the Islamic State group.
On Sunday, Bangladesh banned Naik’s controversial Peace TV, claiming it incited the recent attack on the Dhaka café.
Although the preacher has dismissed the allegations against him, a special team has been set up to investigate his activities, and has gathered information about his properties, funding and other activities. It was expected that Naik would be called in for detailed questioning upon his return to India.
Naik was first questioned in 2002-2003 post a series of blasts in Mumbai. However, no evidence was found against him. “But since then Naik has been under continuous surveillance of the intelligence units and agencies,” a senior IPS officer who questioned Naik, told Hindustan Times.
Earlier on Monday, the Shiv Sena had demanded that the controversial preacher be arrested the moment he returns to India and that his Peace TV network dismantled.
"Stop making announcements of dragging back Dawood or Tiger Memon from Pakistan...Now concentrate on Naik, this hidden enemy at home...Arrest him and throw him in the same cell as (hanged 26/11 Pakistani terrorist) Ajmal Kasab," the Sena said in an edit in the party mouthpiece "Saamana".
The National Democratic Alliance member also likened Zakir Naik's ‘social work’ to the activities of Jaish-e-Mohammed chief Masood Azhar.
Naik, a popular but controversial Islamic orator and founder of Mumbai-based Islamic Research Foundation, is banned in UK and Canada for his hate 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.
Other terror suspects who were reportedly fans of Naik include Afghan-American Najibulla Zazi, who was arrested in 2009 for an alleged conspiracy to bomb the New York subway, Dr Kafeel Ahmed who stormed Glasgow airport in an explosives-laden car in 2007, and Mumbai’s Rahil Sheikh, arrested for the 7/11 serial train blasts.
