The controversial preacher today lodged a police report against Penang Deputy Chief Minister II P Ramasamy, the second after his Aug 16 report accusing him of twisting his remarks on Malaysian Indians.
This time around, Zakir accused Ramasamy of defaming him during an interview with an Indian news channel.
Naik’s lawyer Akberdin Abdul Kader said Ramasamy, a staunch critic of the controversial Indian Muslim preacher, had uttered four defamatory words when speaking to India Today.
“These were ‘venomous’, ‘fraudster’, ‘trickster’ and ‘hate monger’,” Akberdin said.
The lawyer was speaking to reporters after spending almost four hours at the Bukit Aman police headquarters, where Zakir was questioned for the third time over remarks made during his recent lecture tour in Kelantan.
Akberdin said Zakir today gave statements to the police over his earlier report against Human Resources Minister M Kula Segaran and four others regarding a speech he made in Kelantan on Aug 8.
The four others are Ramasamy, Klang MP Charles Santiago, DAP assemblyman Satees Muniandy and former ambassador Dennis Ignatius.
The five said they were standing by their criticism of Zakir.
Akberdin also insisted there is no binding order for his client which prevents him from speaking publicly in Malaysia.
Akberdin said that for the moment, no instructions in writing have been issued to that effect, despite the police confirming a directive given to police contingents nationwide barring the fugitive televangelist from speaking to public audiences.
“It is not an order, nothing was given to him in writing,” he told the press.
Akberdin said that the televangelist was merely advised by the police to refrain from public speaking, which he will willingly obey until police investigations into the matter have concluded.
Akberdin’s insistence appears to be contrary to the move by the police to ban Zakir from publicly speaking, as Inspector-General of Police Datuk Seri Abdul Hamid Bador had stressed that Zakir has been temporarily banned from speaking on all platforms including in social media, citing national security reasons.