Anuj Bidve murder: Family want body returned to India

The father of a student shot dead in Salford on Boxing Day has spoken of his anguish at not knowing when his son's body will be returned home to India. Subhash Bidve said his family were "really worried" about the repatriation of his 23-year-old son Anuj. Police have said they are treating the murder of Anuj Bidve as a "hate crime". He had travelled to the UK to study at Lancaster University. A 20-year-old man and four male teenagers, aged 19, 17, 17 and 16 have been arrested. All five remain in custody on suspicion of murder. Speaking to BBC Radio 5 live, Mr Bidve said: "The last four days we have been feeling so much trauma because we are yet to know as to when Anuj can come back. "We are really worried. All family members are worried about it. "Everyone at home, they are all shattered and waiting for his remains to do all religious things." Anuj Bidve was shot in the head at close range in Ordsall Lane by a white man in his early 20s. Ch Supt Kevin Mulligan, of Greater Manchester Police, said detectives had not established a clear motive for the murder but they were "treating this as a hate crime". He said police were trying to trace the murder weapon - believed to be a small handgun. "Anuj's family deserve to see his killer brought to justice and I want people to think 'what if it was my brother, son, husband or boyfriend who simply went out with friends and was killed?'" Mr Bidve, a postgraduate student in micro-electronics, was earlier described by his family as a "loving son, a super-caring brother and first and forever a friend for many". Advertisement Suruchi Wagh, Anuj Bidve's cousin, said the family were "extremely shocked" at his killing Tutors described him as "an outstanding applicant at the very beginning of a promising career". He had been expected to return to India after completing his studies. Anuj Bidve, from Pune, Maharashtra, was in a group of nine Indian students visiting Greater Manchester during the holidays. Police said the students, who had not been drinking, were walking from their hotel towards the city centre when the gunman approached them from the other side of the road. He had a short conversation with Mr Bidve before producing a gun and shooting him at close range to the side of the head. The gunman then ran back across the street before he and another male fled on foot towards Asgard Drive and the Ordsall housing estate. Tributes have been left on Facebook, including one page set up by a fellow Lancaster student, planning for a "peace march" in Mr Bidve's memory in the new year. According to the page, set up by Sonakshi Saran, Mr Bidve "was killed for not answering a simple question - 'What's the time?'" Police have not disclosed the nature of the conversation between the gunman and Mr Bidve. It is believed Mr Bidve's family plan to fly to Manchester by the end of the week and hope take his body to India. A spokesman for the Indian High Commission said officers had visited Greater Manchester to speak to police.