New Delhi: The government has started the process of revocation of the passport of fugitive televangelist Zakir Naik, MEA spokesman Gopal Baglay said here today. "The process has been started," he told reporters here adding the Ministry of External Affairs actions follow a request from the probe agency NIA. The proceedings to withdraw overseas travel permit for Naik, whose provocative speeches incited people turn radicals, including in Bangladesh, were initiated by the Ministry of External Affairs on the request of the National Investigation Agency (NIA).
The premier agency is probing Naik's speeches that allegedly incited youth to commit terror acts. So far, he has failed to respond to NIA's repeated notices asking him to join the investigation. The Regional Passport Office in Mumbai wrote to Naik early this month directing that he meet him on any working day between 10 am and 12.30 pm within 10 days from the issue of the letter, along with his passport. His passport was issued dated January 20, 2016. Officials say failure to submit the passport will force or empower the government to initiate further actions under the Passport Act, 1967. (UNI)