Arrest of Zakir Naik’s aide in Malaysia falsely linked to terror attack in Sri Lanka

Multiple images of a man photographed with Islamic preacher Zakir Naik are being circulated on social media with the claim that he is the Sri Lanka suicide bomber. A former officer of the Indian army and a newly-inducted member of the BJP, Major Surendra Poonia was among those who shared the photograph. He also shared an image of Congress MP Digvijay Singh with Zakir Naik in an attempt to link an alleged terrorist with the Congress party.

From a Twitter handle Chowkidar, The Activist (@AhmAsmiYodha), the post received nearly 4,000 retweets. He addressed controversial Islamic preacher Zakir Naik as “Congress party’s maternal uncle.”

Images of the same man posing with Naik are viral on Facebook as well.

Not the Sri Lanka suicide bomber

The man photographed with Zakir Naik is not one of the suicide bombers of the Sri Lanka terrorist attack. He is an Islamic preacher and Naik’s disciple. Reverse-searching the image with the keyword “Zakir Naik” redirected us to an article published in Malaysia-based newspaper Malaymail on April 28. The man is Muhammad Zamri Vinoth Kalimuthu who was arrested in Perlis, Malaysia on Sunday for alleged blasphemous remarks on Hinduism.

“A brief video said to show Zamri Vinoth being taken into custody was posted on Facebook this morning by Seberang Perai Municipal City Councillor David Marshel,” reported Malaymail.

There are several other photographs of Zamri with Naik on the former’s Twitter account.

Hanya Allah sahaja yang boleh memuliakan seseorang dan menghina seseorang manusia tidak berkuasa untuk itu.Dr Zakir. pic.twitter.com/TRqgErnXNU

— Zamri Vinoth (@Zamri_Vinoth) April 22, 2016

All nine suicide bombers were identified as Sri Lanka citizens. Zamri is a Malaysian who was arrested on April 28 hence, could not have been a suicide bomber in the Sri Lanka terror attack.