Mumbai Police might submit report on Zakir Naik next week

The Mumbai police might submit by next week its report to the state government on controversial Islamic preacher Zakir Naik, a high-ranked police official said.

“The report is in the final stages of preparation and it is likely to be submitted by next week,” the police official said. According to him, police were planning to submit the report a couple of days back but the arrest of Arshi Qureshi, associated with Naik’s Islamic Research Foundation (IRF), prompted them to wait for additional inputs, if any.

Qureshi was arrested from Navi Mumbai by a joint team of Maharashtra ATS and the Kerala Police for allegedly radicalising a Kochi-based woman. “This arrest delayed the process. We are waiting for the ATS report. The information they provide to us will be incorporated in our probe report,” he said.

The official added although they are yet to get in touch with Naik, the tele-evangelist has not been given a clean cheat yet. “Police haven’t given a clean cheat to Naik yet,” he said. Replying to a query whether Qureshi’s arrest will help police in their probe against Naik, the official said, “Anyone can be associated with an organisation, but it all depends on the involvement of this person in a criminal act.”

Naik, a city-based tele-evangelist, who also runs Peace TV, has been under scanner of various agencies after one of the attackers involved in the Dhaka terror strike posted he had been influenced by the preacher. Last week, Naik held an interaction with the media in Mumbai via Skype from Saudi Arabia, wherein he had rubbished the charge his sermons had inspired terror activity, including the Dhaka attack. He had also said he would not return to India this year.