Will controversial preacher Zakir Naik be extradited today?

Zakir Naik

Controversial preacher Zakir Naik "will be taking a flight to India today," a top Malaysian police officer has said, according to a report by NDTV.

Other media reports later said the controversial Islamic preacher is being extradited.

However, in a statement, Naik said, "The news of my coming to India is totally baseless and false. I have no plans to come to India till I don't feel safe from unfair prosecution. Insha Allah when I feel that the government will be just and fair, I will surely return to my homeland."

The preacher came into the spotlight in 2016, after perpetrators of a terror attack in Bangladesh were said to have been inspired by him. A closer inspection of Naik's teachings by Indian investigating agencies examined charges of him insulting Hindu Gods.

Naik was booked following a multi-agency probe on charges of inciting terror and fomenting communal hatred. Despite repeated summons, Naik who set up a base in Malaysia, has not returned to India.

Sequence of probe

The Bombay High Court had on June 20 refused to grant relief to the evangelist who is facing charges of inciting communal disharmony and committing unlawful activities, observing that he did not show any interest or desire to help the probe agencies.

A division bench of justices RM Savant and Revati Mohite Dere was hearing a petition filed by Naik seeking a direction to the National Investigation Agency (NIA) and the Enforcement Directorate (ED) to submit reports on the probe carried out by them against Naik.

In October 2017, the NIA had submitted its charge-sheet against the televangelist, in connection with a case filed against him for allegedly inciting youngsters to take up terror activities.

The NIA, in the 58 page charge-sheet, has declared the Salafist preacher an absconder and booked him for inciting terror.

Naik was charged under sections 295-a (Deliberate and malicious acts, intended to outrage reli­gious feelings of any class by insulting its religion or reli­gious beliefs), 298 (uttering, words, etc., with deliberate intent to wound the religious feelings of any person) and 505-b (with intent to cause, or which is likely to cause, fear or alarm to the public, or to any section of the public whereby any person may be induced to commit an offence against the State or against the public tranquility) of the Indian Penal Code.