With the Mumbai Police having “indicted” Zakir Naik in their report to the State administration for his “unlawful activities” on Monday, Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis said on Tuesday that the State Government, in consultation with the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA), would take “strictest possible” action against the controversial Islamic preacher and his organisation.
On a day when Naik’s organisation, Islamic Research Foundation (IRF) reiterated that the allegations against the controversial televangelist were “false” and “baseless”, the Chief Minister said, “Based on the evidence gathered by the Mumbai Police, whatever strictest action possible would be taken... We have a lot of material (against Naik). Whatever proper action needs to be taken, we will do so in consultation with the MHA”.
A day after the Mumbai Police submitted a report to the State Government on the “unlawful” activities of Naik and his organisation, Fadnavis said, “We received the report last night... I have briefly gone through the report. The report is quite indicting. Certain serious things have been pointed out in the report... The State home department is examining the report... The process of deciding on what action needs to be taken has already begun.”
“We will be sharing this report with the MHA, because many of the acts which would have to be invoked are in the Central domain. Given that the issues relating to Zakir Naik have international ramifications, we would like to take action in consultation with the MHA,” Fadnavis said.
Maintaining that the report had not made any recommendations to the State Government, Fadnavis said, “The report has dwelt on the activities of Naik and his organisation during the past many years. The report has come out with certain conclusions... Based on those conclusions, the Government has to take action. If anything, the cops have pointed out as to what the irregularities are”.
Following the Dhaka blasts in which two of the attackers had gone to town saying that they were inspired by Naik, the State Government had ordered the Mumbai Police to examine Naik’s past speeches to ascertain if he had “inspired” Muslim youths to terror organisations and also to scrutinise the functioning of his outfit IRF and the finances it had received from various parts of the world.
Meanwhile, IRF reiterated that the allegations against Naik were “false” and “baseless” and that the Islamic preacher functioned under the ambit of the Indian Constitution.
Declining to comment on the inquiry report, the IRF said that neither Naik nor the IRF had received any notice from the MHA. “Naik is an expert in comparative religion and has been conducting well-researched talks on Islam and other religions... Naik believes in promoting peace and harmony,” the IRF said in a statement.