Bondi gunman’s Indian family had no knowledge of his radicalisation: Indian police

HYDERABAD - The alleged gunman shot dead by police during

Australia’s Bondi Beach shooting incident

, was originally from the southern Indian city of Hyderabad and his family did not know about his “radical mindset”, Indian police said on Dec 16.

The attack on Dec 14 was Australia’s worst mass shooting in nearly 30 years, ​and ​is being investigated as an act of terrorism targeting the Jewish community.

The death toll stands at 16, including one of the gunmen, identified by police as ‍50-year old Sajid Akram, who was shot by police.

The man’s

24-year-old son and ​alleged accomplice

, identified by local ⁠media as Naveed Akram, was in critical condition in hospital after also being shot.

“The family members have expressed no knowledge of his radical mindset or activities, nor of the circumstances that led ​to his radicalisation,” Telangana state police said in a statement.

Sajid Akram got a degree in commerce in Hyderabad, the large and bustling tech and pharma hub that is the capital of Telangana state.

He then moved to Australia in November 1998 to find work and married a woman described as of European origin, with whom he had a son and a daughter.

He went back to India six times for family-related reasons such as property matters and to visit his parents but did not return when his father died, the police statement said.

Australian police ‌said both men

had travelled ​to the Philippines in November

, the father on an Indian passport and the son on an Australian one.

The purpose of the trip is under investigation, officials said, adding it was not conclusive that they were linked to any terrorist group or whether they received training in that country.

Telangana police said the factors that led to the ‍radicalisation of the two gunmen “appear to have no connection with India or any ​local influence in Telangana”.

There was no “adverse record” on him before he left India, the statement added.

Family home in Hyderabad

When Reuters on Dec 16 visited “Zehra Cottage”, Akram’s family home in the Al Hasnath colony of Hyderabad’s Tolichowki area, a middle-class Muslim neighbourhood, the three-storey building’s gates were shut. No family members were to be seen.

Most neighbours were unwilling to speak to reporters. One neighbour said a doctor lived in the house, referring to Akram’s brother. His elderly mother also stays with them, he said.

“We heard he (the brother) is a doctor,” said the neighbour, who spoke on condition of anonymity.

“This is a silent and peaceful colony. We have never interacted with them or the family. No one in the colony has any criminal history or has attracted police attention before.” REUTERS