Zakir Naik case: The heat has been turned on

The NIA has sought the help of IT experts from Delhi to help crack the financial transactions to Naik's foundation

Mumbai, Nov 21: For Zakir Naik, the heat is on. After the government banned his NGO, the Islamic Reserach Foundation (IRF) for five years, the National Investigation Agency (NIA) has registered cases.

On Saturday, a team of the NIA conducted a search and raid at 12 premises connected to the IRF.
The NIA not only seized Rs 12 lakh in cash, but also collected incriminating documents including financial transactions and property details of IRF and Naik.

The NIA has sought the help of IT experts from Delhi to help crack the financial transactions.

Decoding the funding pattern

The NIA says that there is a pattern to the funding. It is an important aspect of the probe, an NIA officer part of the investigations told OneIndia. "A majority of the funding has come from Saudi Arabia. We are investigating the exact reason why this funding has taken place," the officer said.

The Kerala police during its probe had learnt that Naik's foundation had indulged in conversion. "We are seeing if these funds were being pumped into India specifically to convert people," the NIA official said.

The probe would not just include the source of the funding but the pattern to it. There have been several complaints that these funds had been misused and the probe will help us understand this better.

In addition to this the NIA is also probing his speeches which many have complained are radical in nature.

Zakir Naik's name had cropped following the recent Dhaka Cafe attack. One of the terrorists had posted that he had been inspired by the speeches made by Naik. These allegations have, however, been denied by Naik.

The NIA says that they will tell Naik to come to India and face a probe. "If he fails to do so then we will file a chargesheet and seek his extradition from Saudi Arabia. Prima facie there is enough material to add to the chargesheet and in the days to come more evidence will crop up," the officer also informed.

OneIndia News