A top police officer in Malaysia has told the country’s leading publication that there was no truth in Indian media reports of Islamic preacher Dr Zakir Naik being extradited to India tonight.
Speaking to Malaysia’s oldest news portal, The Star, Tan Sri Mohamad Fuzi Harun rejected Indian media reports that the controversial preacher will be handed over to Indian authorities on Wednesday night.
“It is not true. He will not be extradited to India tonight,” Harun was quoted by The Star on Wednesday.
This came after several Indian channels namely NDTV and Times Now confirmed that Naik was set to land in India on Wednesday night.
A report by NDTV had quoted an unnamed Malaysian source as saying, “He( Naik) is out of the country tonight. He will be taking a flight to India today I believe.” Times Now channel claimed it had first broken the news adding that the development was massive. The channel went on to add that Naik’s reported extradition was only possible because of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s recent trip to Malaysia. The channel implied that the real motive behind Modi’s recent trip to Malaysia was to secure Naik’s extradition.
However, news agency ANI quoted the NIA spokesperson Alok Mittal as saying, “We have no such information as of now. We are verifying it.” A spokesperson with the Ministry of Home Affairs too told The Hindu that they had ‘no communication from the Government of Malaysia on the issue of Zakir Naik’s return to India today.’
Naik, meanwhile issued a statement denying the reports of his return to India tonight. Calling the reports of his return to India ‘baseless,’ the statement from Naik said, “I have no plans to come to India till I don’t feel safe from unfair prosecution. When I feel that the government will be just and fair, I will surely return to my homeland.”
His lawyer, Mobin Solkar too denied the reports of his extradition. “This news is absolutely false and baseless as he (Zakir Naik) is not coming to India today. As far as the extradition process is concerned, it was earlier reported that the Indian Govt has initiated extradition proceedings but there has been no progress,” Solkar was quoted by ANI.