British police to visit Anuj's family

British police officers will visit Pune to meet the family of 23-year-old student Anuj Bidve who was shot dead in Manchester a day after Christmas.

Bidve, was shot in the head from a close range in an apparently motiveless attack in the early hours of December 26. The gunman reportedly crossed the road to speak to Bidve before shooting him.

Police are treating the killing as a hate crime, which may have been racially motivated.u00a0Manchester police chief superintendent Russ Jackson and a specially-trained family liaison officer, who deals with bereaved families, will u00a0meet Bidve's family and representatives from the Indian authorities.

"Our family liaison officers are in contact with Anuj's family but passing information and updates over the phone is not the best way to communicate in such difficult and tragic circumstances," said Assistant Chief Constable Dawn Copley.

She added, "It is important to me personally, and Greater Manchester Police, to have someone from the force meet with Anuj's family at the earliest opportunity and help support them at this time."u00a0

"Having conversations face-to-face is absolutely the right thing to do. We will, of course, also provide whatever support we can throughout the family's forthcoming trip to Britain," Copley said.u00a0A Rs 41.18-lakh reward has been offered by police to help catch the killer. Meanwhile, five people have been arrested in connection with the case.