Zakir Naik given Saudi Arabian citizenship for arrest dodge: Report

Controversial televangelist Zakir Naik, who has an arrest warrant issued for him in India, has been granted citizenship by Saudi Arabia, reports the Middle East Monitor.

The London-based media observer, citing unnamed Arab sources, said on Friday that Saudi King Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud awarded Naik citizenship "to protect him from arrest by the International Police Organisation, Interpol".

The 51-year-old Islamic preacher, based in Mumbai, is being investigated by National Investigation Agency of India on charges of promoting enmity between groups on religious and racial grounds.

A Mumbai court issued arrest warrant for Naik in mid-April after he had not responded to multiple summons by the Enforcement Directorate, which is investigating alleged money laundering by him and his Islamic Research Foundation (IRF).

The recent focus of limelight on Naik came when his name cropped up during investigations into the terror strike at an upscale restaurant in Dhaka, Bangladesh, on July 1 last year.

One of the terrorists involved in that attack was reportedly inspired by Naik's speeches.

Naik was in Saudi Arabia at the time and has not returned to India to evade arrest.

Bangladesh is the latest to ban his free-to-air channel Peace TV, following Malaysia, another Muslim-majority nation. The UK and Canada have been denying him entry since 2010.

In March 2015, he was hailed by Saudi Arabia for his ‘service to Islam’ and awarded the King Faisal International Prize.