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NIA asks banks to freeze accounts of Naik, IRF

Seeking to starve controversial preacher Zakir Naik and his organisation of funds, the NIA on Wednesday asked banks to freeze…

PTI | New Delhi | November 23, 2016 12:33 pm

NIA asks banks to freeze accounts of Naik, IRF

Zakir Naik (Photo: Facebook)

Seeking to starve controversial preacher Zakir Naik and his organisation of funds, the NIA on Wednesday asked banks to freeze accounts belonging to him and his Islamic Research Foundation, which has been banned under the anti-terror law.
Official sources said all the banks, where Naik’s and his organisation’s accounts were in operation, have been asked to immediately freeze those till further directions.
NIA had registered a case against Naik, IRF and unnamed office bearers of the foundation under section 153-A of IPC (promoting enmity between different groups on grounds of religion and doing acts prejudicial to maintenance of harmony), besides various sections of anti-terror law Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act.
Following this searches were conducted for three days at 20 premises during which details of bank accounts and other financial activities related to Naik and IRF were seized.
The sources said the move to block his bank accounts was taken after the NIA claimed to have seized documents which showed ISIS recruit Abu Anas had received Rs.80,000 from the IRF as scholarship in October 2015.
Anas, an engineer and a resident of Tonk in Rajasthan, had quit job in a Hyderabad-based company when he was arrested by the NIA in January for allegedly planning to carry out a terror strike ahead of Republic Day.
The NIA claimed the probe into the IRF’s funding and distribution of money showed that Anas, who was among 16 people arrested for ISIS links at that time, had received Rs 80,000 from IRF as scholarship.
NIA has also written to Union Home Ministry for banning the webiste run by the IRF and as well as suspending its online activities which inlcudes videos of speeches on social networking sites, the sources said.
The Home Ministry will pass on the request to Information Technology ministry for blocking the Universal Resource Locator (URL) of the website.
The NIA has been conducting searches since November 19 and raided at least 20 premises in Mumbai which are connected to the proscribed IRF or its trustees.
During the search operations, video tapes and DVDs of Naik’s public speeches, documents related to property and investment, financial transactions, foreign and domestic funding to IRF as well as its associated companies, and electronic storage devices have been recovered.
The NIA alleged that IRF, which was banned by the government last week under Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA), had close connections with some companies dealing in media, perfumes and some other sectors.

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The Kerala High Court, on Thursday, granted bail to M K Nasar, one of the individuals convicted by the special NIA court last year in the case of chopping the hands of Professor T J Joseph in 2010. A division bench comprising Justice Raja Vijayaraghavan and Justice P V Balakrishnan suspended Nasar’s sentence and granted conditional bail to him after considering his appeal against the NIA court’s conviction in the case Considering the prolonged detention and citing the potential for trial delays, the court suspended Nasar’s sentence and granted conditional bail, taking into account that some co-accused with similar allegations had already been released after serving shorter terms. The court noted that he had already spent nine years in jail and that delays in resolving appeals could justify suspending a convict’s prison term. It also observed that other accused in the case had received lesser sentences and had already been released after serving their terms. “The applicant has been undergoing incarceration, at the pre-conviction and post-conviction phases, for over 9 years. Furthermore, the fact that the accused facing the same allegations were earlier imposed a lesser term of imprisonment and have been released after having undergone the sentence is a factor that cannot be ignored. Additionally, the appeals filed by the NIA against the findings of the learned Sessions Judge are being considered in separate appeals, which have not yet been taken up. “There is also the likelihood of delay, as the prime accused has surrendered, and the learned Sessions Judge may have to take up the trial and dispose of it in accordance with the law and some of the original records may be required for that purpose. In view of these facts and circumstances, we are of the considered opinion that the sentence imposed on the applicant can be suspended pending the consideration of the appeal.” The court said The court, however, imposed strict conditions for Nasar’s bail. He is not supposed to provide a bond of Rs 1 lakh with two sureties, refrain from leaving the country without the court’s permission, avoid interfering with the trial or witnesses, and not commit similar offences while on bail The gruesome incident dates back to July 4, 2010, when Joseph, a professor at Newman College, Thodupuzha, was returning from Sunday mass with his family, members of the now-banned Popular Front of India (PFI) attacked him, allegedly in retaliation for a question paper he set, which contained a passage that they claimed insulted Prophet Mohammed was derogatory. His right hand was chopped off in this attack. Nasar was accused of playing a critical role in the attack. Investigations revealed his involvement in recruiting gang members, assigning specific tasks, collecting funds, procuring communication devices, and maintaining communication links with key conspirators.

The Kerala High Court, on Thursday, granted bail to M K Nasar, one of the individuals convicted by the special NIA court last year in the case of chopping the hands of Professor T J Joseph in 2010.