Indian Media Faces Embarrassment as Hyderabad Shooter’s Roots Revealed

• Facts disprove coordinated Indian misinformation campaign.
• Sajid Akram migrated to Australia from India in 1998: reports.
• Naveed Akram is confirmed to be an Australian citizen by birth.
  

The shooting at Bondi Beach has revealed false claims spread by certain Indian media outlets and social media accounts that tried to connect the attackers to Pakistan. These allegations crumbled after credible information was published by international news sources.

Immediately following the incident, several Indian media outlets and social media users pointed fingers at Pakistan without proper verification, launching a coordinated smear campaign that contradicted verified details.

According to reports from India’s The Hindu published on Tuesday, the suspect shot and killed by police during Sunday’s attack was Sajid Akram, aged 50, originally from Hyderabad in Telangana state, India. The report states that Akram moved to Australia in 1998.

Australian media identified the other suspect as Akram’s 24-year-old son, Naveed Akram, who was shot by police during the event and later recovered from a coma. It has been confirmed that Naveed is an Australian citizen by birth.

Right after the attack, Indian journalist Arnab Goswami and numerous social media users claimed that the suspects had ties to Pakistan.

Social media posts on X made unsubstantiated claims that Naveed Akram was of Pakistani descent and had studied in Islamabad.

One post claimed: “This is the terrorist training camp in Kotli… where the Bondi Beach attackers trained,” while another accused the suspects of traveling to Pakistan multiple times.

Meanwhile, Australian authorities announced on Wednesday that they had charged a man with 59 offenses, including terrorism charges, related to firing on a Jewish event at Sydney’s Bondi Beach.