Report on Zakir Naik sent to UPA govt, but no action taken, says ex Mumbai police chief

NEW DELHI: Acknowledging that Islamic preacher Zakir Naik's speeches were provocative, former Mumbai police commissioner and now Baghpat MP Satyapal Singh on Saturday said Mumbai Police had forwarded a report of his activities to the then UPA government in 2008, but no action was taken on it. "In 2008, we sent a report to government questioning Zakir Naik's source of funding and speeches. His organisation should be banned by FCRA. We filed a report on the event in which 12 people converted to Islam at the venue, they have transformed at least 12 girls and boys into Muslim from Hindu and Jain. At that time we have sent a report. They get funding from outside," Singh said. Singh also said that Naik misinterpreted and misquoted religious books. "We have mentioned in the report that such things can be dangerous and sought immediate action from the government. But nothing was done at the right time," he added. In October 2008, a two-day programme by Naik's Islamic Research Foundation ( IRF) at the Azam Campus ground in Pune Camp became controversial after "religious conversions" took place at the venue. Twelve persons, mainly youths, converted to Islam voluntarily in the presence of Naik at the full-packed open programme held at the Azam Campus ground, the premises of an educational organisation run by the Maharashtra Cosmopolitan Education (MCE) Society. Naik is reportedly in Saudi Arabia for a religious pilgrimage and would return to India on July 11. Naik, a popular but controversial Islamic orator and founder of the Mumbai-based Islamic Research Foundation, is banned in UK and Canada for his hate speeches. However, calling Zakir Naik's speeches 'highly objectionable', Information and Broadcasting Minister M. Venkaiah Naidu said the Home Ministry will take appropriate action after studying them. "The Home Ministry will study (his speeches). It will take appropriate action after studying them. His speeches, as being reported in the media, are highly objectionable," Naidu told the media.