Indian police said on Tuesday that one of the two gunmen behind Australia’s Bondi Beach mass shootings, Sajid Akram, was an Indian citizen who had left the country 27 years ago.
Akram and his son Naveed — who is listed on Australian immigration records as an Australian citizen, according to authorities, opened fire on people celebrating the Jewish festival of Hanukkah on Sunday, killing 15.
“Sajid Akram is originally from Hyderabad, India. He… migrated to Australia in search of employment approximately 27 years ago, in November 1998,” police in India’s southern state of Telangana said in a statement.
“As per information available from his relatives in India, Sajid Akram had limited contact with his family in Hyderabad over the past 27 years,” the statement added.
“He visited India on six occasions after migrating to Australia, primarily for family-related reasons such as property matters and visits to his elderly parents. It is understood that he did not travel to India even at the time of his father’s demise.”
Australia’s Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said the father and son who carried out one of the country’s deadliest mass shootings were driven by “Islamic State ideology”.
Authorities said the attack was designed to sow panic among the nation’s Jews.
Telangana police said they had “no adverse record” against Sajid while he had been in India prior to his departure.
“The family members have expressed no knowledge of his radical mindset or activities, nor of the circumstances that led to his radicalisation”, the statement read.
“The factors that led to the radicalisation of Sajid Akram and his son, Naveed, appear to have no connection with India or any local influence in Telangana”, it added.
