![A flag of the Islamic State [Representative image / AP]](https://img.theweek.in/content/dam/week/week/news/india/images/2025/12/17/islamic-state-flag-ap171225.jpg.image.340.191.jpg "A flag of the Islamic State [Representative image / AP]")
The involvement of a Hyderabad man in the mass shooting in Australia’s Bondi Beach was not only an "insult" to India, but also a grave security concern for the country, Telangana BJP chief N. Ramchander Rao said on Wednesday.
Rao raised apprehension that, though the accused had moved out of India 27 years ago, there could be several sleeper cells for ISI and ISIS in Hyderabad.
Telangana Police on Tuesday confirmed that Sajid Akram, one of the suspects in the Bondi Beach shooting that left 15 people dead, was a native of Hyderabad. Akram migrated to Australia in 1998, but still carried an Indian passport.
Sajjid was gunned down by police during the encounter, while his son Naveed Akram, also a suspect, emerged from a coma on Tuesday afternoon after also being shot by police.
“The Hyderabad connection with the terror act (in Australia) is a matter of insult to us, and also a serious national security concern. Telangana police should now inquire and also go deep into the circumstances and the conditions in which they (Sajid) left India,” Rao told PTI news agency.
Rao also urged the police to investigate whether Sajid had maintained contacts with anybody in India after moving to Australia.
“Unfortunately, the people who are involved in it (the terror attack) 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,” he added.
Australia's federal police have described the Bondi Beach shooting as a terrorist attack inspired by the Islamic State. The investigators have also reportedly recovered an ISIS flag and other incriminating materials from the suspect's vehicle.
