INSUBCONTINENT EXCLUSIVE:
controversial preacher known for hate speeches that allegedly inspired an ISIS terrorist involved in the 2016 Dhaka attack, is heading back
to India from Malaysia, sources told TheIndianSubcontinent on Tuesday."He is out of the country tonight
He will be taking a flight to India today I believe," a Malaysian government source told TheIndianSubcontinent in Kuala Lumpur.Naik has
called the report "totally baseless and false"
He was quoted as saying: "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 Dato Shaharuddin Ali said "as of
today", there is no truth in the report that Zakir Naik was being sent back to India
Neither had he been served any extradition papers, he added.The home ministry says it has no communication from Malaysia on Naik's
return.The controversial preacher left India in 2016 and has been living in Putrajaya in Malaysia since
He was also given a permanent residency and embraced by top Malaysian government officials.When TheIndianSubcontinent asked why he was
"welcome" there, the source said: "You will have to ask the last government."Indian investigators have been demanding that Malaysia hand him
over as he is wanted by the anti-terror National Investigation Agency.Malaysia said India had failed to produce a red corner notice - which
acts like an international arrest warrant - against him
"In our conversations with Indian authorities like RAW (Research and Analysis Wing), we said please give us an Interpol notice and we will
arrest him, but they failed to do so," said an official.There has been speculation about a change of policy on Zakir Naik's stay in Malaysia
after the exit of the Najib Razak government, the legal fight for which is on in court.The Home Minister of Malaysia was recently quoted as
saying that Zakir Naik was subject to local laws if he had committed a crime.However, the police authorities couldn't confirm if his return
was part of negotiations with India.Last year, the NIA prepared charges against Zakir Naik, saying he has been "promoting enmity and hatred
between different religious groups in India through public speeches and lectures."Naik, a 52-year-old medical doctor, has in his
inflammatory speeches recommended death penalty for homosexuals and those who abandon Islam
He is heard saying in a YouTube video that if Osama bin Laden was "terrorizing America the terrorist, the biggest terrorist, I am with
him".A channel called "Peace TV", which features Zakir Naik's preachings, was banned by Bangladesh after reports claimed that terrorists at
