After NIA raids 10 IRF premises, lawyer says FIR against Zakir Naik illegal
Mumbai: Hours after the National Investigation Agency (NIA) carried out searches at 10 premises of the banned Islamic Research Foundation (IRF) in Mumbai, Zakir Naik’s lawyer on Saturday said that case filed against him and his organisation was illegal.
“"Earlier in the year 2012 an FIR was registered by the office bearers of some organisation against Zakir Naik under section 153 A and in response we filed a petition in the Supreme Court and the court granted stay to all those proceedings in the FIR. So fresh FIR for the same offence is not maintainable in law so they cannot be two FIR for one offence," said Mobin Solkar, Zakir Naik's Lawyer.
The searches began Saturday morning with the help of local police after a case was registered by the NIA's Mumbai branch last night under 153-A of IPC (promoting enmity between different groups on grounds of religion...and doing acts prejudicial to maintenance of harmony) and various sections of Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act.
The action by the National Investigation Agency (NIA) came barely a few days after the Union Cabinet declared IRF as a banned organisation under UAPA.
IRF came under the scanner of various security agencies after one of the terrorists involved in the Dhaka cafe attack had allegedly posted on social media that they had been inspired by Naik's speeches.
Some of the youths from Mumbai suburbs, who had left their home to join Islamic State earlier this year, were also allegedly inspired by the preacher.
The speeches of Naik, who is currently out of the country apparently to evade arrest, are banned in the UK and Canada as well as in Malaysia.
The Home Ministry found the NGO was allegedly having dubious links with Peace TV, an international Islamic channel, accused of propagating terrorism.
According to the Home Ministry, Naik, who heads the IRF, has allegedly made many provocative speeches and engaged in terror propaganda.
Maharashtra Police has also registered criminal cases against Naik for his alleged involvement in radicalisation of youths and luring them into terror activities.
Naik also transferred IRF's foreign funds to Peace TV for making "objectionable" programmes. Most of the programmes, which were made in India, contained alleged hate speeches of Naik, who had reportedly "urged all Muslims to be terrorists" through Peace TV.
An educational trust run by Naik has already been prevented from receiving foreign funds and agencies are looking into their activities.
Meanwhile, an NIA statement said its teams have conducted search operations at 12 premises connected to Islamic Research Foundation (IRF) in Mumbai simultaneously and seized incriminating documents, files, electronic storage devices and about Rs 12 lakh cash.
The recovered documents relate to various activities including financial transactions and property details of Zakir Naik and IRF. To assist the search teams, a team of IT experts has been flown from NIA headquarters in Delhi to Mumbai. The searches are still going on and are likely to continue till late in the night.
