Focus is back on Zakir Naik
MUMBAI: Although the Mumbai police have not found anything concrete against Islamic speaker Zakir Naik, the recent arrests from Kalyan and Navi Mumbai of people with alleged links to his organisation in Kerala has put the focus back on Naik.
The Maharashtra anti-terrorism squad (ATS), along with Kerala police, arrested two men for allegedly radicalising a couple from Kerala and recruiting them with the ISIS.
Arshid Asif Qureshi, 45, a guest representative officer with Naik’s Islamic Research Foundation (IRF), was arrested from Navi Mumbai, while Rizwan Khan was arrested from Kalyan.
According to sources, the special branch of the Mumbai police has prepared a preliminary report on Naik, which apparently mentions some terms and lines in his sermons and speeches may be objectionable, but not provocative or anti-national.
An official from the Mumbai police said although there have been people linked to the IRF hav e been arrested, Naik’s link has not come to the fore. In such a situation, taking action against Naik would be difficult, said sources, adding the police are going through some more speeches.
Former ATS chief KP Raghuvanshi, whose team questioned Naik after the 2006 train bombings, said it was difficult to prove any crime was committed after hearing Naik’s speeches. Some speeches could be pro-terror, but getting a prosecution or filing a case is difficult, he said.
Maharashtra chief minister Devendra Fadnavis had ordered an inquiry into Naik’s activities in the wake of reports that his sermons influenced a couple of the terrorists, who killed 20 people in a Dhaka café on July 1.