The Enforcement Directorate (ED)on Wednesday presented its arguments before a special Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) Court on its plea seeking an open-ended non-bailable warrant against controversial televangelist Zakir Naik, on the grounds that he had received a lot of unaccounted money in the form of donations which needs to be investigated. The agency said that it was essential to get Naik's custody, as the accused could tamper with the most crucial evidence.

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On Naik's unavailability to surrender, the ED said that the personal appearance of Naik was of paramount importance for proceedings under the PMLA and investigations can't be conducted as per the convenience of the accused.

According to the ED's application, preliminary investigations conducted by ED, prima facie, reveal that Naik obtained funds by way of donations from both domestic and international donors to the Islamic Research Foundation (IRF). IRF was banned by the Government of India on Nov 17, 2016. Therefore the funds generated in the name of this organisation are nothing but proceeds generated out of criminal activity related to schedule offence under PMLA, the ED submitted.

The court is likely to pass an order on the issuance of the open ended non-bailable warrant against Naik on Thursday.