Controversial Islamic preacher Zakir Naik, who was expected to return from Saudi Arabia today, said he would be abroad for another 2-3 weeks and was ready to cooperate with any Indian agency investigating allegations against him.
Naik, facing allegations of inspiring terrorism through his provocative speeches, also cancelled his scheduled press conference via Skype tomorrow and suggested that he has become a victim of media trial.
In a statement released from abroad this evening, he said no Indian government agency has so far contacted him over the allegations against him.
"So far, not a single official Indian government agency has contacted me for any clarification regarding this issue. It would be my pleasure to cooperate with any official Indian government investigation agency for any information they might require from me," he said.
Naik, however, accused the media of "twisting and not publishing unedited statements and mutilating and misutilising statements to serve their vested agenda".
"If time permits, in the next few days I will give replies to some of the major allegations on video and give it to the media and put it up on social media as well and other public platforms so that the original answers are also available if the media misutilises them," he said.
He reiterated that he "does not support terrorism or violence and neither does he support any terrorist organisation."
An aide of Naik said, "His (Naik's) travel schedule had been made long back. After performing Umrah, he is scheduled to travel to Jeddah from where he will visit Africa for his public talks scheduled there. He is therefore not expected in the country for another 2-3 weeks at least."
"Zakir Naik was never supposed to be physically present for the media briefing that was to take place on Tuesday. He had decided that he would address the media through Skype and answer all queries that media persons may have had," he said.
Apart from coming under scanner in India, Bangladesh has also banned the broadcast of Naik's Peace TV, cracking down on the channel and radical sermons by the 'televangelist'.
Shiv Sena has demanded arrest of Naik on his landing in
India and dismantling of his TV network.
Meanwhile, Samajwadi Party's Maharashtra unit president Abu Azmi came in support of Naik and sought to know why action has not been taken for the last 25 years if his speeches were inspiring terrorists, and called for a "fair inquiry" into charges against him.
"Zakir Naik has been a preacher for around 25 years now. If he has been inspiring terrorists, why was no action taken against him from so long? There should be an inquiry conducted by a retired Supreme Court judge... But, this media trial against him should stop," Azmi told reporters here today.
"While there should be a thorough investigation into Naik's speeches, fundings of his Islamic Research Foundation, the Centre should first ban Sanathan Sanstha because its members have been named by CBI for being involved in the killing of those who opposed their way of Hinduism," he said.
"We want justice for him (Naik). Let the inquiry be conducted by a non-Muslim judge like Justice Srikrishna, Rajindar Sachar or another retired judge of the Supreme Court," Azmi added.
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Meanwhile, a former staffer of Peace TV, run by the controversial Islamic preacher, today alleged violation of foreign funding norms by the channel.
Zubair Khan, who claimed to have worked with Peace TV for almost two years in separate stints, alleged the firm was involved in a "huge money fraud" linked to many countries and sought detailed investigation into the "money trail".
"Right from India to US and London, Naik's TV channel received huge amount of money in the name of propagating Islam and he stashed all the unaccounted money by violating rules... Peace TV's auditing firm and its chartered accountants must be held, questioned and then all the truth will come to the fore," he claimed.
Peace TV, a private satellite television channel, is not permitted by the Information and Broadcasting Ministry for downlinking into the country.
Last week, Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis had ordered a probe by police into speeches of Naik.
The CM also stated that Naik's social media accounts and sources of funding of a foundation run by him in Mumbai will also be scrutinised.
Khan, who claimed to have worked as Executive Producer with Peace TV, also alleged that Naik is a "threat" to Islam as he "lacks exact knowledge of Quran and other holy books".
Khan, who runs his own production house, said he was ready to share all inputs with Mumbai Police.
