Zakir Naik's agent converted my son Saurabh to Saleem, says father of terror-accused

A week after the Madhya Pradesh Police arrested 11 people for their suspected links with radical outfit Hizb-ut-Tahrir (HuT), the father of one terror accused - Saurabh alias Mohammed Saleem - said that his son was converted to Islam by the agent of controversial preacher Zakir Naik.

Zakir Naik, a radical Islamic preacher, is wanted in India since 2016. His name had also cropped up in the Dhaka cafe bombing of 2016 after one of the bombers told the Bangladeshi investigators that he was influenced by Naik's preaching.

Last Tuesday, the Madhya Pradesh Anti-Terrorism Squad (ATS) arrested 11 persons, including a gym trainer, software engineer, and teacher, and booked them under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA) and other relevant provisions of the IPC. Madhya Pradesh Home Minister Narottam Mishra said they were prima facie involved in "love-jihad" and religious conversions.

Saurabh was among the accused arrested by the Madhya Pradesh ATS. Now, his father Ashok Raj Vaidya has claimed that one Dr Kamaal used to be around Saurabh during his college days and he taught his son Islamic prayers. "We came to know Dr Kamaal was an agent of controversial Islamic preacher Zakir Naik and was arrested. He taught my son Islamic prayers," he said while speaking to the news agency ANI.
 
"I first observed Saurabh's activities and arguments in 2011. He began distancing himself from our family functions and religious festivities. Sometime later, his wife also started wearing Islamic dresses. It was then that I tried explaining things to him. I asked Saurabh to leave our house," Vaidya said while speaking to the news agency ANI.

Vaidya said he reported the entire matter to the police but they refused to take any action as they found Saurabh had converted to Islam willingly.

"Saurabh used to watch speeches of Zakir Naik on his computer. I even recovered several Islamic books from his room. Watching Syrian news on TV, Saurabh used to talk about Islam and why they were attacking Syrians," Vaidya said, adding that Saurabh also attended several Islamic events hosted by "big personalities".

The MP ATS, too, said all arrested people received training from skilled trainers from Hyderabad and they used to deliver provocative speeches at religious meetings and distribute religious literature to rope in more youths.

Vaidya had even written to the Congress-led Centre seeking a ban on the broadcast of Zakir Naik's speeches. Saurabh's mother, Vasanti Jain, said her son's Muslim friends never left him at peace and they were always milling around him. "I never confronted them as I was scared for my son's life."

Zakir Naik had launched Peace TV English, a Dubai-based channel for the propagation of Islam. Later, he also launched Urdu and Bangla versions of Peace TV, which has been banned in many countries.

In November 2016, the National Investigation Agency (NIA) booked Zakir Naik and his organisation Islamic Research Foundation (IRF) under anti-terror laws and for allegedly promoting enmity between groups on the basis of religion. The action came just a few days after the central government declared IRF a banned organisation under the UAPA.

Ever since he fled India, Naik has been living in Malaysia. India has made requests to Malaysia for extradition of the radical preacher but the country has refused to entertain the plea. 

After the Dhaka terror attack, Zakir Naik's name cropped up again in connection with the bombings in Sri Lanka, India Today reported. Zahran Hashim, the leader of National Thowheeth Jama'ath -- a group that claimed responsibility for deadly Easter bombings in Sri Lanka -- praised Zakir Naik asking Sri Lankan Muslims what they can do for him.

(With inputs from ANI, India Today)