NEW DELHI: Sources close to developments have revealed that Islamic evangelist and zealot Zakir Naik, one of the most wanted Indian fugitives, who is currently based in Malaysia, continues to be engaged in propagation of radical Islamic activities and collection of funds from his wealthy contacts in the Gulf region to support his activities.
In the most recent instance, Naik has contacted one of his old contacts, Abdullah Ali al Emadi, a prominent Qatari national, and requested him for a generous charity during the ongoing Ramadan period.
Emadi is learnt to have assured an amount of $500,000 to him. It is also learnt that Mohammad Siddique Al Emadi, a Qatari national, is a close associate of Naik and helps him contact local wealthy businessmen and charity organisations for collection of funds.
It may be recalled that Naik is an Islamic preacher and televangelist from Mumbai. He is the founder of Islamic Research Foundation (IRP) and Peace TV, an Islamic TV Channel broadcast in Urdu and English from Saudi Arabia. He is also associated with several local radical Islamic organisations such as South Karnataka Salafi Movement and Al-Lisaan Islamic Foundation.
Naik continues to maintain several bank accounts in Gulf countries, including Qatar and the UAE, for collection of such funds to evade scrutiny of the Indian government. He generally uses these accounts to transfer funds to his associates and network for activities by IRF and other associated organizations. The Indian government has since put a five-year ban on IRF.
Naik is involved in preaching of radical Islamic ideology that has influenced a number of youth in India and abroad in adverse manner and some of them are found to have been motivated to join extremist organisations such as Daesh.
In view of his involvement in extremist activities, multiple non-bailable warrants (NBW) have been issued against Naik by the India authorities on charges of promoting enmity between different groups on grounds of religion, under the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act (UAPA) and for money laundering. (IANS)
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