The National Investigation Agency (NIA) has filed a case against Zakir Naik and has conducted search operations at 12 premises connected to the Islamic Research Foundation (IRF) in Mumbai simultaneously.
An NIA statement said its teams have 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 had 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.
Zakir Naik’s lawyer called the FIR illegal.
FIR against Zakir Naik or IRF is illegal, because one FIR for same offence was lodged against him in 2012.Mobin Solkar, Zakir Naik’s Lawyer
Naik had been extolling Osama Bin Laden, proclaiming that every Muslim should be a terrorist, the Ministry of Home Affairs had said on Friday, justifying the ban imposed on his NGO Islamic Research Fund by the government.
The MHA added that Naik claimed that if the Muslims had indeed wanted, 80 percent of Indians would not have remained Hindus.
The Home Ministry said that through speeches and statements, Naik has been promoting enmity and hatred between different religious groups and inspiring Muslim youths in India and abroad to commit terrorist acts.
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