Zakir Naik, the controversial Islamic preacher who has been living abroad to evade arrest in various cases in India, yesterday said he would not return home till he felt "safe from unfair prosecution".

Naik issued an audio statement amid reports that he was being deported to India from Malaysia. "The news of my coming to India is baseless and totally false. I have no plan to come to India till I feel safe from unfair prosecution," he said in the statement in English.