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Hyderabad link in Sydney shooting an ‘insult’, city ‘might have sleeper cells’: Telangana BJP chief
“The Hyderabad connection with the terror act, though it is a matter of insult to us, is also a serious national security concern,” N Ramchander Rao said.
The involvement of a Hyderabad man in the recent mass shooting in Australia's Bondi Beach, which led to the deaths of 15 persons, is not only an “insult” to India but also a security concern, Telangana Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) president N Ramchander Rao said Wednesday.
“The Hyderabad connection with the terror act (in Australia), though it is a matter of insult to us, is also a serious national security concern,” PTI news agency quoted Rao as saying.
Rao further urged the Telangana police to inquire into and investigate the “circumstances and the conditions” in which the mass shooting accused had left India.
Who is Sajid Akram
The 50-year-old gunman, Sajid Akram, who was killed during the terror attack which he unleashed on a Jewish gathering, was carrying an Indian passport till date, the Philippines’ Bureau of Immigration has said Tuesday. Telangana police had earlier confirmed that he was from Hyderabad, but had migrated to Australia in 1998.
Both Sajid Akram and his son Naveed Akram, 24, had opened fire with rifles on a Hanukkah event at Bondi Beach in Sydney on Sunday. While Naveed is in hospital under police guard, Sajid was shot dead in an exchange of fire with police.
Rao raised concerns that the incident “reflects a dangerous trend”, and demanded that a police inquiry must be conducted into the family history of the accused.
“Unfortunately, the people who are involved in it are from India and that too from Hyderabad. And I feel that Hyderabad, though they moved out of Hyderabad for 27 years, still has many sleeper cells for ISI and ISIS also,” Rao told PTI.
The 50-year-old gunman's elder brother, Sahid Akram, is a doctor and lives in the Al Hasarath Colony in Hyderabad's Tolichowki area, according to an earlier HT report. Sahid and his family members reportedly left their house for an undisclosed location after news reports of the shooting.
The Philippines’ Bureau of Immigration had also said on Tuesday that Sajid Akram had visited the country as recently as November.
