The special branch of the Indian city’s police released a preliminary report yesterday, which seemed to indicate that some terms and lines in Zakir’s sermons and speeches may be objectionable but not provocative or anti-national, Hindustan Times reported.

Police sources revealed that they “could not find anything concrete that could be used to file a hate speech case against Zakir”, however, a separate probe into the activities of his think tank Islamic Research Foundation (IRF) would start soon.

Mumbai police had opened investigations into Zakir’s activities in the wake of reports that his sermons had influenced two of the terrorists who killed 20 people in a cafe in Dhaka, Bangladesh on July 1.

According to Hindustan Times, more than 20 police officers went through a huge collection of Zakir’s sermons and speeches, which are in the public domain. They then screened through footage found at the office of Harmony Media Pvt Ltd, where the editing studio of Zakir’s Peace TV is located. Harmony Media employees were also interviewed as part of the enquiry.

“The police team heard the sermons and speeches and all the objectionable content was penned down after listening to the transcripts. Those documents have also been attached in the preliminary report on Zakir Naik,” a police officer told Hindustan Times.

Investigations have not concluded though, as police will now start a separate probe into the other activities of Harmony Media and the IRF.

“Documents and past records could not be gathered at such a short notice for verification, hence these things are left open-ended in the report, which may or may not require further enquiry by the Mumbai police,” the officer told Hindustan Times.