India, Dec. 16 -- The Hyderabad-based family of Sajid Akram, one of the two gunmen involved in the deadly shooting at Sydney's Bondi Beach, had severed ties with him years ago after he married Venera Grosso, a Christian woman of European origin, police and media reports said on Tuesday.

Telangana Police said Sajid Akram migrated to Australia in November 1998 after completing his B.Com degree in Hyderabad and later married Verena Grosso.

Following the marriage, contact between Sajid and his family in India diminished sharply. Relatives told the police that they had limited interaction with him over the past 27 years.

A report by The News Minute quoted Sajid Akram's brother, who lives in Hyderabad, as saying that the family cut ties with...