New Delhi: The Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Monday moved an application before a special court in Mumbai seeking to declare Zakir Naik a fugitive economic offender under the Economic Offenders Act.
According to The Hindu, the application along with supporting documents were submitted in a sealed envelope to the court – which said it would hear the application on September 30. The move comes following the ED obtaining a fresh non-bailable warrant (NBW) against Naik in a 2016 money laundering case.
Sources at the agency told the daily that if Naik fails to appear before the court in time, and is declared a fugitive economic offender, the ED will be able to confiscate his assets in India as well as abroad.
The central agency has so far arrested two of Naik’s aides, Amir Gazdar and Najamuddin Sathak, and attached his properties worth Rs 50.49 crore, including the Islamic International School in Chennai, ten flats, three godowns, two buildings and land in Pune and Mumbai, besides bank accounts.
Naik, believed to be in Malaysia, is facing the charge of allegedly laundering money to the tune of Rs 193 crore.
Also read: Zakir Naik Is Anathema to Secular Democracy, His Communal Agenda Must Be Halted
The 53-year-old radical television preacher left India in 2016 and subsequently moved to the largely Muslim Malaysia, where he was granted permanent residency. The ED booked him in 2016 on an FIR filed by the National Investigation Agency (NIA) under the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act (UAPA).
He has been banned from any public activities in the country after his remarks against Malaysian Hindus and Chinese on August 8.
In July, the court issued summons against Naik after taking cognisance of a complaint filed by the ED against Dubai-based jeweller Abdul Kadir Najmudin Sathak for allegedly assisting the preacher in raise and diverting funds.
More recently, the Malaysian prime minister last week denied claims that his Indian counterpart had asked for Naik’s return. Mahathir Mohamad said that Narendra Modi, whom he met in Russia during an economic forum earlier this month, made no extradition request for the controversial Islamic televangelist despite official notice from New Delhi.
(With PTI inputs)