Ministry of Home Affairs, Government of India.                                            

PRESS RELEASE  

(Charge Sheet filed in NIA Case RC-05/2016/NIA/MUM) 

IRF CASE

On 26th of October, 2017, the National Investigation Agency (NIA) filed a charge sheet before the NIA Special Court, Mumbai, in NIA case no. RC-05/2016/NIA/MUM (IRF Case). The charge sheet has been filed under section 10 UA (P) Act and Sections 120B, 153A, 295A, 298 and 505(2) IPC

2.  The accused persons against whom charge sheet has been submitted in the case are as under: 1)  Zakir Abdul Karim Naik under Sections 120B, 153A, 295A, 298 & 505(2) of the IPC and Section 10 of the UA(P) Act
2)  Islamic Research Foundation (IRF), Mumbai under Sections 120B, 153A, 295A, 298 & 505(2) of the IPC
3)  Harmony Media Private Limited (HMPL) under Sections 120B, 153A, 295A, 298 & 505(2) of the IPC

3.  The investigation has revealed that Zakir Naik is the founding trustee and a member of an Unlawful Association, i.e., the Islamic Research Foundation. He has been promoting enmity and hatred between different religious groups in India through his public speeches and lectures. He has conspired with the IRF Trust and the Harmony Media Private Limited to commit offences of (i) promoting enmity and hatred between different religious groups in India through his public speeches and lectures (ii) deliberate and malicious acts intended to outrage religious feelings of any class by insulting its religion or religious beliefs. 

4. The investigation conducted by NIA has firmly established that the incriminating public speeches/utterings have been in circulation through the electronic media, such as CD/DVD and web portals Facebook/ YouTube, etc.; and have been, and continue to be seen, across the world.  The minutes of IRF board of trustees’ meetings disclose that IRF had approved, organized, promoted and funded public lectures of accused Zakir Naik including his incriminating speeches. The seized material such as DVD and books list IRF as the publisher. 

5. The Investigation  has  also  established  the  role  of  Harmony  Media  Private  Limited  in  collusion  with recording  the  incriminating  speeches  of  a ccused  Zakir  Abdul Karim  Naik,  editing  the  same  for  public  view,  making  master  DVD  of  incriminating  speeches  for  further replication  and  circulation  to  general  public,  forwarding  the  speeches  to  the  Global  Broadcast  Corporation, Dubai, for broadcast  in  the Peace  TV. 

6. The  investigation  has established  that  many  incriminating  speeches  of  accused  Zakir  Naik  were delivered  during  the  10day  Peace  Conference  organized  by  IRF  in  Mumbai  from  2007  to  2011.  The  Minutes of  IRF  Board  of  Trustee’s  Meetings  confirm that  the  IRF  had  planned,  organized,  funded  and  promoted  this event  where  there  was  open  exhortation  to  convert  people  of  other  religion  into  Islamic  religion  by  Zakir Naik. His  lecture  tours  were  funded by  the  IRF. The  covers  of  incriminating  DVDs  also h ad  the  name  of  the IRF along with  its  address.  His  derogatory,  insulting  and  controversial  comments  have  always  been  defended by  the  IRF.

7. During the investigation,  it  was  found  that  through  his  public  lectures/speeches,  accused  Zakir  Naik and  maliciously  insulted  the  religious  beliefs  of  Hindus,  Christians  and  non Wahabi  Muslims, particularly  Shia,  Sufi,  and  Barelwis,  with  intention  of  outraging  their  religious  feelings,  and  IRF  and  HMPL have  been  instrumental  in  the  maximum  circulation  of TV program.

8. During  the  investigation,  nine  speeches  and/or utterings, in particular, were  found to be  inflammatory as  they  hurt  the  religious  sentiments  besides  inciting  violence.  These  speeches  are  tit led  as  (i)  ‘Terrorism  and an  Islamic  Perspective’,  (ii)  ‘Media  and  Islam:  War  or  Peace’  (iii) ‘ZN  se  Poochiye  Sawal  wa  Jawab ka  Khula  Ijlaas’,  (iv)  ‘Zakir  Naik  se  Poochiye  sawal  wa  Jawab  ki  Khuli  Nashisht’  (v)  ‘Similarities  between am’  (QA  Session),  (vi)  ‘Concept  of  God’  (Q  &  A  Session),(vii)  Ask  Dr.Zakir  an  exclusive open  question  and  answer  session  Chennai,  (viii)  Ask  Dr.  Zakir  an  exclusive  open  question  and  answer session, Dubai  Day 1, (ix) Ask Dr.  Zakir an exclusive  open question and  answer session, Dubai  Day2.

9. The  investigation has  also  brought  on record that  in  September 2012, during  the  Ganpati  festival, two quotes  of  Zakir  Naik  taken  from  his  speech  given  earlier  in  Srinagar,  were  uploaded  on  his  Facebook  account by  the  IRF  for  public  view.  The  texts  were  (i)  ‘If  you  prove  to  me  that  Shri  Ganesh  is  Bhagwaan  then  I  will eat  the  prasaad,’  and  (ii)  ‘If  your  ‘Bhagwan’  cannot  recognize  his  own  son  (Sri  Ganesh),  how  will  he  recognize me if I fall  into  any  difficulty?’  The  religious  sentiments  of  followers  of  Hindu  faith  were  deeply  hurt  by  these insulting  and  deriding  comments.  The  investigation  has  revealed  that  Zakir  Naik  admitted  before  the  Supreme Court  that  the  said  controversial  quotations  were  posted  on  his  Facebook  accoun t  by  an  employee  of  the  IRF named  Asif  Sheikh.  Though  Zakir  Naik  told the  court  that  the  said  Asif  Sheikh  was  no  longer  an  employee, the  investigation  has  revealed  that  he  continued  to  work  in  the  same  capacity  but  his  name  was  removed  from the  list  of  IRF employees  to  coverup  the  matter,  and  he  was  shown  as  an  employee  of another  outfit  styled as  ‘Islamic  Dimensions’

10. The Investigation  has established that  the  Peace  TV  was  found  guilty  of  breaching  Rule  2.3  of  the Communications  Act,  2003, in  the  UK as  well, because  in  presenting  his  theological  views  on  these  points, Zakir  Naik  did  not  include  any  reference  to  alternative  interpretations  by  Muslim  scholars [ presented ] , nor sought  to  mitigate  the  potential  offence  by  providing  sufficie of  the  views  he nt  context  for his  remarks.

11. The  investigation  has  further  revealed  that  the  IRF  and  the  IRF  Educational  Trust  have  received  huge donations  from  the  public,  within  India  and  from  abroad.  Most  of  the  acknowledgment  receipts  show  only ‘Well  Wisher’ inste 12. During the ad  of the  real name  of  the  donor.

12. During the investigation,  it  has  been  found  that  Nailah  Naushad  Noorani,  sister  of  Zakir  Naik,  was  a trustee  of  the  IRF  Educational  Trust  along  with him.  When  Zakir  Naik  became Nailah  Nausha d  Noorani  as  Director  in  Harmony  Media  as  well  as  in  Longlast  Constructions  Company,  in his  place. It  was  found that  she  was  Director on paper only;  all  the  affairs  of  companies  were  handled  by  her brother.  She  signed  the  cheques  on  the  instruction  of  her brother  and  had  no  knowledge  of  the  company affairs.  Furthermore,  she  had  received  Rs  29  crores  from  Zakir  Naik  through  her  parent’s  bank  account between  2013  and  2016. This  money  was  further  invested  into  Harmony  Media  and  Longlast  Constructions company  a s  per  Zakir Naik’s  instructions.

13. The  investigation  has revealed  that  huge  funds  have  been  received  by  the  domestic  and  foreign  entities and  individuals  related  to  accused  Zakir  Naik.  The  investigation  has  also  revealed  that  huge  quantity  of  cash has  b een  generated  in  the  system  by  entities  and  individuals  connected  to  Zakir  Naik  which  has  been  invested in real  estate  and holding  companies.  The  investigation has  revealed  that  there  are  19  [Nineteen]  immovable properties,  including  land  and  building,  wor th  Rs  104  [One  hundred  and  four]  Crores  connected  with  the cused Zakir Naik. The  source  as  well  as  the the mode  of  acq uisition of  these  properties  is being  investigated.

14. During the investigation  sufficient  oral,  documentary,  technical,  forensic  and  material  evidence  has been  collected  which  establishes  the  criminal  conspiracy  in  promoting  enmity  and  hatred  between  different religious  groups  in  India  through  public  speeches  and  lectu res.  Zakir  Naik  has  deliberately  insulted  other religions  or religious  beliefs  under the  aegis  of  IRF  with the  help of  HMPL  to  cause  dissatisfaction.

15. Further investigation is  in  progress.