Islamic Research Foundation (IRF), the NGO run by Salafist preacher Zakir Naik who is under the scanner for allegedly inspiring terrorists, confirmed it had made a Rs 50 lakh donation to the Rajiv Gandhi Foundation (RGF) in 2011. The Congress owned up to the donation, but claimed that the money did not come to RGF but to an allied entity, Rajiv Gandhi Charitable Trust (RGCT), and that the same was returned to IRF "some months ago". TOI had on Tuesday checked with RGF on the 50 lakh contribution from IRF but on Thursday, it denied having received the donation.

In another email on Friday night, RGF said it "stood by its reply in its entirety".

Asked specifically, an IRF spokesman quoted Naik and said the money had gone to RGF and not the charitable trust and, also, that they had not received the refund yet. "May be, they are planning to return but we have not received anything yet," he said.

"We donated 50 lakh to RGF in 2011. But the donation to RGF is just one of the several donations we make to NGOs of similar nature for education of the girl child, higher education in medicine, medical surgeries etc," the IRF representative said.

RGCT has Sonia, her children Rahul and Priyanka among its founder members. They, along with former PM Manmohan Singh, are also trustees of RGF.

The disclosure of the donation comes at a time when Naik is embroiled in a controversy because of allegations that the Salafist preacher was inciting youth for jihadi terror and was running down other faiths in order to organise conversions to Islam.

The government stumbled upon IRF's donation while inspecting its accounts in 2014.