Indian court orders attachment of Zakir Naik's properties

MUMBAI: A court in Mumbai has ordered the attachment of properties owned by religious scholar Zakir Naik who has been declared an absconder in a case registered under an anti-terror law, Indian media reported.

Charged under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA) two years ago, Naik was declared a proclaimed offender by the court in June 2017.

Following the court orders, India’s National Investigation Agency (NIA) attached two flats and a commercial establishment in Mumbai belonging to the 52- year-old televangelist.

The NIA’s application seeking permission to attach four properties in the Mazgaon area that were owned by Naik was allowed on Thursday by the court.

The court accepted the plea after the NIA submitted that Naik, staying overseas, was trying to sell these properties since his funding from various sources has been stopped after the central agency filed a case against him, according to a report.

Advocate Anand Sukhdev, who appeared for the NIA, told the court that Naik was trying to obtain citizenship in several foreign nations and therefore, was trying to raise money for the same by selling these Mazgaon properties.

In November 2016, the central government had declared Naik’s Mumbai-based Islamic Research Foundation as an “unlawful” association under the UAPA.