India Probes Immigration History of Bondi Beach Attacker Sajid Akram

Central and state agencies in India, in close coordination with relevant authorities, have launched an exhaustive and multi-faceted investigation into the detailed immigration records, comprehensive visa history, frequent cross-border travels, and overall residency status of Sajid Akram, the 50-year-old primary gunman who was fatally shot by police during the devastating terrorist attack at Bondi Beach in Sydney on December 14, 2025.

This ongoing probe, as of December 19, 2025, meticulously examines the circumstances under which Akram, a native of Hyderabad originally holding Indian citizenship, was able to sustain an extended and uninterrupted residence in Australia for over 27 years without ever successfully obtaining permanent residency, despite submitting as many as 27 separate applications that were consistently rejected by Australian immigration authorities.

Sajid Akram first entered Australia in November 1998 on a student visa shortly after completing a Bachelor of Arts degree at Anwar-ul-Uloom College in Hyderabad, subsequently transitioning to a partner visa in 2001 following his marriage to Vanessa (also referred to in some reports as Venera Grosso), an Australian resident of European origin who already possessed permanent residency status there.

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The horrific December 14, 2025, attack saw Akram and his 24-year-old son Naveed, an Australian-born citizen with permanent residency, open fire on a large crowd gathered for a Hanukkah celebration organized by the Chabad community at Archer Park beside Bondi Beach, resulting in 15 fatalities—including a child and several heroic bystanders—and over 40 injuries, before Sajid was neutralized by responding officers and Naveed sustained critical wounds leading to his hospitalization and subsequent charging with 59 offenses, including murder and terrorism.

Indian investigators are now intensifying scrutiny on Akram's repeated visits to India across decades—including trips in 2003 for a second marriage under Muslim personal law, 2004 to introduce his young son to relatives, 2006 following his father's death, 2012 for unspecified reasons, and a final 2018 visit to sell inherited property in Hyderabad whose proceeds funded a home purchase in Australia—as well as his reliance on Resident Return visas to maintain legal re-entry privileges, alongside deeper probes into financial transactions, potential visa extensions, and any oversight in his long-term overseas stay amid emerging details of the father-son duo's recent travels to the Philippines and reported ideological motivations.

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