New Delhi, Jan 11 (IANS): Vitriolic Islamic preacher Zakir Naik, who is living in exile in Malaysia, has claimed that the NDA government at the Centre offered to shelve money laundering charges against him and give him safe passage in return for his support to abrogate Article 370.

In a statement issued by Naik's team on Saturday, the Islamic preacher said that he was approached by a representative of the Indian government who offered him the deal, which he claims to have refused.

Naik has been in exile in Malaysia since 2016.

Naik made the claim in a video, in which he said that three-and-a-half months ago, "some Indian officials approached me for a private meeting with a representative from the Indian government."

Naik claimed the representative said that he was following "direct instructions" from Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Home Minister Amit Shah.

Naik said the person claimed that he wanted to remove "misconceptions and miscommunication" between him and the Indian government and he wanted to "provide me safe passage to India".

Naik said the representative wanted him to support the abrogation of Article 370 in Kashmir to which he "flatly refused".

Naik claimed the liaison also told him not to make statements against the BJP government and Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

Naik has also referred to the Citizenship (Amendment) Act and criticised "many Muslim leaders" for supporting the National Register of Citizens.

He alleged that these Muslim leaders may have been "blackmailed, pressurised and forced to support the unjust BJP government or face dire consequences".