Bondi beach shooting: Quiet Hyderabad colony shaken as Australia gunman's roots emerge

An unusual calm hangs over Al Hasnath Colony in Hyderabad’s Tolichowki after news broke that Australia’s Bondi Beach gunman, Sajid Akram, had roots in the city and that his family resides in the same locality.

Most neighbours told DH they were unaware of Sajid’s existence. By the time the Akram family moved into the quiet residential colony in 2002, Sajid had already migrated to Australia, and his visits to India were rare over the past 27 years.

Residents described the family as quiet and soft-spoken, noting that they largely kept to themselves. Many locals were reluctant to discuss the incident or comment on the family.

Al Hasnath Colony is a small neighbourhood with several Muslim households and a mosque nearby.

Currently, Sajid’s elder brother — a doctor at a city college — lives in the family’s two-storey residence with his wife, also a doctor, their children, and their mother. “Not many of us knew the doctor had a younger brother in Australia. We are shocked to hear what happened. They have always been polite and soft-spoken,” said a 50-year-old neighbour.

Intelligence sources said Sajid visited Hyderabad only six times in nearly three decades, his last trip being in 2022. He reportedly had disagreements with family members over property matters and did not return even when his father passed away in 2009. The family home has since been found locked, with members understood to be under protective police custody.

On Sunday, a mass shooting at Sydney’s Bondi Beach during a public Hanukkah celebration claimed 15 lives, including one of the attackers. Australian authorities are treating the incident as a terrorist attack. The gunmen were identified as Sajid Akram and his son Naveed Akram, said to have been inspired by IS ideology.

According to Telangana police, Sajid Akram hailed from Hyderabad, where he completed a BCom degree before migrating to Australia in November 1998 in search of employment. He later married Venera Grosso, a woman of European origin, and settled there permanently. It is understood that Sajid’s family had reservations about his marriage outside their faith. The couple have two children — Naveed, identified as one of the attackers, and a daughter.

Police officials in Telangana said Sajid’s family was unaware of his radicalisation. “The factors leading to the radicalisation of Sajid and his son appear to have no connection with India or any local influences in Telangana,” an official said.