NEW DELHI: The Enforcement Directorate (ED) has registered a case against controversial
Salafist preacher Zakir Naik and his outfit Islamic Research Foundation under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act.
ED’s zonal office in Mumbai registered the Enforcement Case Information Report
(ECIR), equivalent to FIR in police parlance, against Naik and others after taking cognisance of a case registered by the NIA under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act against them, agency sources said here, sources said.
The ED will probe alleged illegal funds laundered by the accused and the proceeds of crime generated due to such activities. Soon after the registration of the case, the agency has begun looking
into the banking transaction by Naik and IRF and will soon issue summons to the accused, the sources said.
In November, the NIA had registered a case against Naik under the anti-terror law and certain provisions of the IPC for allegedly promoting enmity between different groups on grounds of religion and
race.
The NIA and the Mumbai police had jointly carried out searches at 10 places in Mumbai including at the residential premises of some of the office bearers of the IRF.
Naik, who has been staying in Saudi Arabia to evade arrest after his name surfaced
during the probe by Bangladesh authorities for a terror strike at cafe in Dhaka earlier this year, has been booked along with unnamed IRF officials under section 153-A of IPC (promoting enmity between different groups on grounds of religion and doing acts prejudicial to maintenance of harmony) beside various sections of UA(P)A.
Naik and IRF have also been booked by the NIA for UA (P) A sections for being member of an unlawful organisation and offences for being member of illegal organisation besides being involved in a conspiracy for committing any terror act.