Interpol cancels red corner notice on Zakir Naik over 'religious bias'

New Delhi: The Interpol has cancelled the red corner notice on Islamic Research Foundation (IRF) president and preacher Zakir Naik, who is being probed under terror and money-laundering charges by the National Investigation Agency (NIA).

"Interpol has cancelled red corner notice on Naik and instructed its worldwide offices to delete all data from files on him, have cited political and religious bias among other reasons," a spokesperson of Naik said.

 The NIA's request for red corner notice against Naik was not accepted by the Interpol as the chargesheet had not been filed when the request was submitted to the Interpol. Now, the NIA will submit a fresh request to the Interpol as a chargesheet has already been filed in the concerned NIA court in Mumbai.

The Islamic preacher is facing charges of incitement of terror activities, hate speeches among youth and money-laundering.

Naik fled from India after some terrorists allegedly involved in the Dhaka cafe attack claimed that they were inspired by his speeches.

Last year, the National Investigation Agency's Mumbai branch had registered a case against Naik under various sections of the Indian Penal Code and Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA) after the Union Home Ministry had declared his Mumbai based IRF as an unlawful association.

The Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) last month had said that the inter-departmental consultations were on for the extradition of Naik from Malaysia.