Locality in India fears being blamed for Bondi atrocity

Hyderabad is a city in southern India whose residents have long gone abroad searching for greater wealth and opportunity.

- Pragati K.B.

But it has come under scrutiny after one of its own was named in connection with an atrocity far away.Sajid Akram, who died while attacking a Hanukkah celebration in Australia on Dec 14, was born and grew up in a quiet Muslim neighbourhood here. He left almost three decades ago and seldom came back.

Now, the mass shooting, which killed 15 people and led to the arrest of Akram's son, Naveed, as the second gunman, has brought unwelcome attention to their relatives and other residents of the neighbourhood, known as Toli Chowki.

Many were wary of being held guilty by association, adding to the frustrations and pains of being part of a Muslim minority in a country that has grown more stridently Hindu. Others protested their innocence.

"This incident brought Toli Chowki fame through infamy," said Mr Mohammed Tajuddin, a neighbour of Sajid Akram's brother. Anxious about the backlash that might come from connection to a terrorist attack, many in the neighbourhood have stayed indoors this past week.

Akram, 50, was one of the roughly six million Muslims from India who have gone abroad in search of better lives. Though Muslims make up only about 15 per cent of India's population, they account for almost a third of its emigrants, according to a study by Pew Research Center.