Probe against Dr Zakir Naik after allegations of 'inspiring' Dhaka attackers

NEW DELHI: Days after militants killed more than 20 hostages in Bangladesh, Indian and Bangladeshi law enforcement agencies have launched a probe against the speeches of Muslim preacher Dr Zakir Naik, whose sermons were said to have allegedly inspired two of the Dhaka attackers.

Meanwhile, Bangladeshi information minister Hassanul Haq Inu said legal experts were looking into Naik's speeches and sermons and action would be taken if they were found to have "fanned" terrorism.

Concerned about the alleged influence of the televangelist, the Bangladesh government has requested the Indian government to examine the content as well as the context of the controversial preacher's sermons.

The Indian government is looking into whether preacher Dr Zakir Naik, through his speeches, not only justifies but glorifies terrorist acts, conveying tacit support to Daesh, India’s NDTV reported.

Naik, who is currently in Mecca for performing Umrah, has rejected all the accusations against him.

"I disagree that I inspired this act of killing innocent people" and declared "terrorism is Devil-ish," Dr Naik said.

Naik told The Indian Express that he condemns the attack. “By using the name Islamic State, we are condemning Islam… They are the 'anti-Islamic state of Iraq and Syria' that has killed innocent foreigners. The name is given by enemies of Islam,” he said.

Initial investigation has revealed that terrorists, Nibras Islam and Rohan Imtiaz, were allegedly instigated by Naik’s addresses presented on his channel Peace TV.

Following the accusations, the Mumbai-based Islamic scholar came under fire while the hardliner Modi government has started looking into the claims.

Union Minister Venkaiah Naidu said that the government will study Dr Naik's speeches. "The Home Ministry will study and take a decision," Mr Naidu said.

Naik had made a controversial statement in 2010 when he had refused to describe Osama bin Laden as a terrorist. Answering a question about the ban placed on him for entering Britain, he had said it was because he urged all Muslims to be terrorists. 

"I tell Muslims that every Muslim should be a terrorist... For a robber, a policeman is a terrorist. So in this context every Muslim should be a terrorist to the robber," Naik had told reporters at the press conference in Mumbai in 2010.

Naik is the founder of the Mumbai-based Islamic Research Foundation. According to India media reports, security has been beefed up at his Mumbai office.