Yasin Bhatkal used Zakir Naik's sermons to brainwash youths

Indian Mujahideen (IM) founder Yasin Bhatkal and many members of the banned Students Islamic Movement of India (SIMI) were allegedly followers of controversial preacher Zakir Naik.

At the library in Darbhanga used as a front for his module, IM founder Yasin Bhatkal had several videos and literature on radical Muslim leaders

Investigations by the National Investigation Agency (NIA) have revealed that books by Naik and his sermons were used by the IM and the SIMI to brainwash Muslim youths and bring them into their fold. The NIA had stumbled upon the Naik connection during their investigations into the serial blasts at the Mahabodhi Temple Complex in Bodh Gaya in July and the venue of Narendra Modi's ‘Hunkar' rally in Patna in October 2013.

The IM and the SIMI were said to have orchestrated the explosions. Over 20 persons were arrested for the blasts, including Tahaseen Akhtar alias Monu, Haider Ali alias Black Beauty, Numan Ansari, Mujibullah, Umar Siddique, Azharuddin Qureshi, Ahmed Hussain and Mohammad Firoz Aslam. The NIA seized a laptop from Haider, which had a number of videos of Zakir Naik's speeches, and several books by the preacher from the lodge where Ali stayed in Ranchi, Jharkhand.

A source said the videos were shown to Muslim youths to brainwash them. "Siddique used to give speeches to SIMI men in Raipur and Ali showed videos from his laptop, which featured Naik and included footage of the 9/11 attacks. Naik's literature was read out and explained by Siddique."

Not taken seriously
An NIA officer who is part of the investigations said all the literature and videos seized were made part of the chargesheet filed in the cases. "But they were not taken seriously. With Naik's name cropping up again, everything will be properly investigated."

Sources said Yasin, who hails from Karnataka, shifted base to Darbhanga in Bihar in 2011 and ran his deadly module from the Dar-ul-Qitab Sunna Library there. "Many youths were brainwashed at the library," said a source.

The deadly Darbhanga module allegedly plotted a series of attacks across the country.

After the arrest of Yasin, along with associate Asadullah Akhtar alias Haddi, in 2013 from Raxaul in east Champaran district, just 1 km from Indo-Nepal border, the NIA raided the library and seized several videos and literature of radical Muslim leaders from a laptop and two pen drives.

"The team also found several videos and literature of Zakir Naik," said the source.

Another source said videos of terrorist Osama bin Laden were also part of the seizure.

Days after the Dhaka attack, Bangladesh asked India to examine speeches of Naik after reports that his ‘hate speech' inspired one of the five Bangladeshi militants, who hacked to death 22 people at an upscale cafe in Dhaka's diplomatic enclave on July 1. Naik's Peace TV went off the air in Bangladesh on Monday after the authorities cancelled its broadcasting rights on the grounds that the Indian preacher's speeches, sermons and interpretation of Islamic issues were "inspiring acts of terrorism" and radicalising youths.

The Zakir connection
>> Naik was called by the state ATS in 2006 for questioning after the 11/7 train blasts.
>> His lectures also inspired Kalyan youth and alleged ISIS foot soldier, Areeb Majeed. In his statement, Majeed, who was arrested in November 2014, said, "I was inspired to study more about my religion from the lectures of Dr Zakir Naik of IRF (Islamic Research Foundation, based in Dongri), which I used to listen to on my mobile."