ashok321
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The government may be serious in taking action against controversial televangelist Zakir Naik but no concrete step has been taken so far to bring him back to India to face trial.
India has been unable to get Interpol to issue a red corner notice against him and is constrained to send a reminder. Moreover, no request has been made by the National Investigation Agency to the home ministry to press for his extradition so far.
In May this year, the agency had approached the Interpol for a red corner notice against Naik after a non bailable warrant was issued against him by a special NIA court in Mumbai. Armed with the NBW and the standard proforma containing all his details and the cases against him, the NIA approached the Central Bureau of Investigation to take up its case with the Interpol. The CBI is the nodal body for issuing Interpol warrants in India.
Two months have passed and no red corner notice has been issued yet. The NIA was constrained to send a reminder recently which prompted the CBI to further remind the Interpol about the matter.
"Normally it does not take so long for an RCN to be issued after we request the Interpol. But in this case, we have sent a reminder," said an NIA official. The NIA is clueless as to why it is taking so much time for a red corner against Naik.
On the other hand, the agency has so far not pressed for Naik's extradition. Home ministry officials said the case was being investigated by the NIA and it would be the prerogative of the investigative agency to press for extradition.
"We have not got any request so far. Hence there has been no extradition request sent for Naik," the official said. NIA officials, on their part, said that they would press for his extradition at the right time. Naik has been hiding either in Saudi Arabia or the UAE and keeps on shifting base between Malaysia and Indonesia.
Naik has been accused of promoting enmity between groups on religious and racial grounds and also accumulating funds for his NGO in illegal way. The NGO, Islamic Research Foundation, has been banned in India. Much before the dust could settle on the controversy surrounding his NGO, several Islamic State suspects arrested in the country claimed that they were inspired by Naik's speeches to commit terrorist acts, promoting the NIA to take up the investigation.
Naik had left India sometime after the July 2016 Dhaka terror attack where the attackers claimed they had been inspired by Naik.
http://www.theweek.in/news/india/cu...k-is-india-going-slow-on-his-extradition.html