Daijiworld Media Network - Mumbai

Mumbai, Apr 26: Zakir Naik, accused of preaching radical Islam, said on Thursday that he was aware of the pressure the Indian government was applying on the Interpol to issue a red corner notice against him.

Naik, who fled India in 2016 claimed, "It is part of an elaborate witch-hunt, but having verified with a few member countries, I can confirm that there is no red corner notice against me as of date."

"One of the Indian newspapers seems to have jumped the gun and reported internal deliberations of the Indian government which, as a matter of fact, have been going on for over two years now," he added.

He mentioned that the Interpol had already cancelled a red corner notice against him once. "And it has been one-and-a-half years since the government submitted a chargesheet and started applying pressure on the Interpol, but as things stand, I have no reason to believe that Interpol will succumb to any kind of undue pressure," he said.

Naik has been under investigation since 2016, when the Centre banned his Islamic Research Foundation (IRF) for five years.

Earlier this year, the ED (Enforcement Directorate) investigations have revealed that Zakir Naik received funds of around 49.20 crore in his NRE bank accounts from Dubai and the source of these funds was unknown. Following the NIA (National Investigation Agency) court order five properties belonging to Naik in Mumbai's Mazgaon area were attached by the authorities in 2018.

The NIA chargesheet also accused Naik of receiving funds from the Islamic Research Foundation to insult the religious beliefs of Hindus, Christians as well as Muslims who did not follow the Wahhabi-Salafist ideology preached by him.

The government of India had banned his NGO ‘Islamic Research Foundation’ (IRF) and a TV channel (Peace TV) for spreading hatred between religious groups and for provoking Muslim youth to join in the jihad against non-believers of Islam.