Controversial Islamic preacher Zakir Naik’s non-governmental organisation Islamic Research Foundation sponsored an alleged Islamic State group sympathiser, IANS reported quoting unidentified National Investigation Agency officials. The official said the NGO gave Abu Anas, currently in Delhi’s Tihar jail, Rs 80,000 grant in October 2015. Anas, a resident of Rajasthan’s Tonk, was reportedly planning on joining the militant group in Syria.

Officials said Anas, a former information security analyst, had applied for a scholarship on the NGO’s website and was called to Mumbai for an interview. The money was transferred around the time he was trying to go to Syria to join the outfit, The Times of India reported.

On November 19, a First Information Report was filed against Naik for spreading enmity while police conducted raided placed linked to the preacher’s organisations. Video tapes and recordings of his speeches and documents were confiscated as well.

The televangelist has been under the government’s lens ever since allegations that he had inspired one of the terrorists responsible for the Dhaka restaurant attack on July 1. He was also accused of meeting two brothers from Kerala who were among those who went missing in West Asia and are feared to have joined the Islamic State group. The police had also arrested a few members of the IRF for allegedly radicalising men from Kerala to join the Islamic State group. The case is now being investigated by the NIA.