Bondi Beach shooting: Australia gunman had Hyderabad roots, left India 27 years ago

Hours after the statement from the Philippine authorities, Telangana director general of police B Shivadhar Reddy confirmed that Sajid Akram was from Hyderabad

Sajid Akram, the 50-year-old gunman killed during a terror attack he unleashed on a Jewish gathering in Australia, was an Indian national, the Philippines’ Bureau of Immigration said on Tuesday, with the Telangana Police confirming shortly after that he was from Hyderabad, migrated to Australia in 1998, but carries an Indian passport.

A menorah lighting ceremony being held for the victims of Sunday's shooting, at the Bondi Pavilion at Bondi Beach on Tuesday. (AP)

His elder brother Sahid Akram, a doctor, lives in Al Hasarath Colony in Hyderabad’s bustling Tolichowki area.

As news channels and online platforms began flashing reports about Sajid Akram’s Hyderabad links, Sahid Akram and his family members reportedly left the house for an undisclosed location.

On Tuesday, the Philippines’ Bureau of Immigration also said that Sajid visited the country in November.

Fifteen people were killed and another 42 were injured when Sajid Akram and his son Naveed Akram, 24, opened fire with rifles on a Hanukkah event at Bondi Beach in Sydney on Sunday. Naveed is in hospital under police guard while Sajid was shot dead in an exchange of fire with police.

Dana Sandoval, a spokesperson for the Philippines’ Bureau of Immigration, said: “Sajid Akram, 50, Indian national (Australian resident), and Naveed Akram, 24, Australian national, arrived in the Philippines together last November 1, 2025 from Sydney, Australia.”

She added, “Both reported Davao as their final destination. They left the country on November 28, 2025 on a connecting flight from Davao to Manila, with Sydney as their final destination.”

Sajid’s Indian origin was earlier confirmed by five people familiar with the matter on condition of anonymity. There was no word on the matter from Indian government officials.

Hours after the statement from the Philippine authorities, Telangana director general of police B Shivadhar Reddy issued a statement, confirming that Sajid Akram was from Hyderabad.

“Sajid completed his B Com degree in Hyderabad and migrated to Australia in search of employment, approximately 27 years ago, in November 1998. He subsequently married Venera Grosso, a European origin woman before settling permanently in Australia. They have one son, Naveed (one of the two attackers) and one daughter,” the DGP said.

Reddy said Sajid still carried an Indian passport as on date and his son Naveed and daughter were born in Australia and are Australian citizens.

“Sajid Akram carries [an] Indian passport as on date,” the statement said, adding that his relatives in India said he had limited contact with them over the past 27 years. After migrating to Australia, he visited India on six occasions for “property-related matters” and to meet his elderly parents.

However, Sajid didn’t travel to India at the time of his father’s death, and his family said they had “no knowledge of his radical mindset or activities, nor of the circumstances that led to his radicalisation”, according to the statement.

According to news portal The NewsMinute, Sajid’s family said they snapped ties with him after he married a Christian woman.

Before the family left the Hyderabad house, Sahid briefly spoke to local reporters, stating that they were shocked by the incident and had not been in contact with Sajid for many years. “Sajid left Hyderabad for Australia more than 25 years ago. We cut ties with him long ago,” he said, adding that his brother had not visited Hyderabad even when their father passed away in 2009.

“Our mother, who is over 80 years old, has been unwell, and Sajid did not even enquire about her,” he added.

“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,” the Telangana Police statement said.

Australian home minister Tony Burke referred to the father-and-son duo at a news conference on Monday and said the father arrived in the country in 1998 on a student visa.

The father transferred to a partner visa in 2001 and “after each trip overseas since then has been on resident return visas, which has occurred three times”.

Resident return visas are issued to Australian permanent residents and allows them to travel in and out of the country as many times as they want until the validity expires, while retaining permanent residence status.

Australian foreign minister Penny Wong spoke to external affairs minister S Jaishankar on Monday and briefed him on the terrorist attack in Bondi and the ongoing investigation, people familiar with the matter said.

Wong said: “I thanked minister Jaishankar for his condolences and for the Indian government’s messages of support. We agreed that there must be no place for antisemitism, violence and terrorism.”

Jaishankar said on social media that he spoke to Wong and conveyed “our deepest condolences about the Bondi beach terrorist attack and offered our fullest support”.

Australia’s 9 News channel aired an interview with a former colleague of Naveed Akram, an out of work bricklayer, who said the detained attacker’s “background was Indian and Italian”. The former colleague said Naveed Akram’s mother is Italian and his father Indian.

The former colleague also said Naveed Akram spoke about religion sometimes “but he wasn’t somebody to force things down your throat” and that he had a licence for firearms.

Australian officials said on Tuesday morning both men had travelled to the Philippines last month, and the reason for that trip is being investigated.

Davao is the largest city on the island of Mindanao and is considered the gateway to southern Philippines, which remains a centre of Islamic State activity. In 2017, Islamic State fighters besieged the city of Marawi in Mindanao for five months, and the government launched a massive military operation to root them out.

Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said on Tuesday that the two attackers were motivated by “Islamic State ideology” and were apparently radicalised by beliefs associated with the terror group.