Islamic preacher Zakir Naik owns at least 37 properties, most of which are located in the towns of Maharashtra, the National Investigation Agency (NIA) said. Of the 37 properties owned by Naik, 25 are flats located in Mumbai alone. He owns properties in Pune and Solapur as well.
"Conservative estimates put the market value of these properties and other assets of IRF and Naik around Rs 100 crore," an NIA official told the Hindustan Times. NIA Chief Sharad Kumar led a team of officials to Mumbai on Thursday and discussed the matter with the Mumbai Police.
The NIA also retrieved Naik's propaganda material contained in 14,000 tapes which amount to around 5,000 terabytes (TB) of data. Officials gathered details of properties while checking records of Naik and his organisation — Islamic Research Foundation (IRF) — that has been banned by the government for five years for being an "unlawful association" under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA).
However, the Centre has formed a tribunal to reconsider the ban on IRF.
The investigating agency had filed a case against Naik and IRF for encouraging Muslim youths to indulge in violence and promoting enmity between groups on the basis of religion and race. He was also booked for indulging in activities that were a threat to peace and communal harmony in the country.
The NIA also carried out a search at two dozen properties of Naik and his relatives and the IRF with the assistance of the Mumbai Police, the daily reported.
"Around three dozen bank accounts of the IRF and its trustees including Naik have been identified and banks were asked to freeze them as well," the official told HT.
