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Award announced for killer of Anuj Bidve
The uproar in the UK and India over the Boxing Day murder of Indian student Anuj Bidve has buoyed the police to hurriedly announce a 50,000-pound reward for any information leading to the killer.
Bidve was shot dead by a stranger from close range while he was walking with his friends through Salford town in Greater Manchester in the early hours of December 26. The killing was without provocation, though police are still withholding contents of the brief conversation between Anuj and the shooter.
With the Indian and Maharashtra Governments taking interest, including in the early return of Anuj’s body to his native place, the case has received high priority. Both the home office as well as the Indian chancery in Birmingham have been in constant touch with the Greater Manchester police following up the case.
Detective Chief Superintendent Mary Doyle admitted that announcement of financial rewards usually came at a much later date of the investigation. She said: “It is an extremely unusual, savage and motiveless attack, an absolutely horrific crime, which is why we are taking the step of issuing it (the reward) a bit earlier than we normally would.”
The police have also offered personal apologies to Anuj’s family after is father, Subhash Bidve, said in Pune that the police informed him of his son’s death long after he had read of the incident on Facebook.
Assistant chief constable Dawn Copley explained the delay: “A family liaison officer was quickly put in place after Anuj’s murder who made exhaustive inquiries to try and inform the family and deliver the awful news personally. Unfortunately, as the officer was attempting to contact the family through the right channels, a post was put on Facebook.”
Meanwhile, the parents and brother-in-law of Anuj are planning to travel to the UK to take his body back with them. The Birmingham chancery will be making all arrangements required.
Anuj’s friends as well as ordinary citizens have been offering flowers and lighting candles on the Lancaster University campus — where he was a student — and the street in Salford where he was killed. A candle light procession is also being planned in the first week of the new year.
The uproar in the UK and India over the Boxing Day murder of Indian student Anuj Bidve has buoyed the police to hurriedly announce a 50,000-pound reward for any information leading to the killer.
Bidve was shot dead by a stranger from close range while he was walking with his friends through Salford town in Greater Manchester in the early hours of December 26. The killing was without provocation, though police are still withholding contents of the brief conversation between Anuj and the shooter.
With the Indian and Maharashtra Governments taking interest, including in the early return of Anuj’s body to his native place, the case has received high priority. Both the home office as well as the Indian chancery in Birmingham have been in constant touch with the Greater Manchester police following up the case.
Detective Chief Superintendent Mary Doyle admitted that announcement of financial rewards usually came at a much later date of the investigation. She said: “It is an extremely unusual, savage and motiveless attack, an absolutely horrific crime, which is why we are taking the step of issuing it (the reward) a bit earlier than we normally would.”
The police have also offered personal apologies to Anuj’s family after is father, Subhash Bidve, said in Pune that the police informed him of his son’s death long after he had read of the incident on Facebook.
Assistant chief constable Dawn Copley explained the delay: “A family liaison officer was quickly put in place after Anuj’s murder who made exhaustive inquiries to try and inform the family and deliver the awful news personally. Unfortunately, as the officer was attempting to contact the family through the right channels, a post was put on Facebook.”
Meanwhile, the parents and brother-in-law of Anuj are planning to travel to the UK to take his body back with them. The Birmingham chancery will be making all arrangements required.
Anuj’s friends as well as ordinary citizens have been offering flowers and lighting candles on the Lancaster University campus — where he was a student — and the street in Salford where he was killed. A candle light procession is also being planned in the first week of the new year.
