Indian govt alleges Naik's NGO gave funds to IS operative

NEW DELHI: Indian Muslim preacher and renowned Islamic scholar Dr Zakir Naik may find himself in hot water as an Indian intelligence agency claimed that it had found evidence that Naik's IRF had provided fund to an Islamic State operative under the guise of 'scholarship'. 

Muhammad Anas, supposedly an Indian Islamic State (IS) recruit named Abu Anas, was arrested from Rajasthan in January of this year. India's central intelligence agency, the National Investigation Agency (NIA) claims to have found evidence linking Dr Zakir Naik's Islamic Research Foundation (IRF) to the Islamic State. 

According to details, IRF provided Abu Anas with a scholarship of Rs 80,000 at the time he was planning to travel to Syria to join the Islamic State. He had applied for the scholarship on IRF's website and had received it after being called for an interview. The IRF has been banned by the government for five years as Dr Zakir Naik is being probed for any links with terrorism. 

Indian media reports claimed that it was not possible that Naik's associates were not aware of Anis' intentions of joining the Islamic State. Hence, they were suspecting that the scholarship was just an excuse to transfer the funds to the alleged IS operative. The money was transferred to his ICICI Bank account in Tonk, in Rajasthan according to media reports. 

Dr Zakir Naik is being investigated by the Indian government ever since his name came up in the Dhaka Gulshan terror attack, when one of the perpetrators named him as their 'motivator'. Zakir Naik has claimed that he has denounced terrorism and violence time and again, stating that he had no hand in the terrorist attack that took place in Bangladesh.