Hiren Patel and Sudhir Parikh

Salford, Greater Manchester, England 30 December 2011

Gujarati NRI shopeeper Hiren Patel of Preston is offering to help the grief stricken family of an Indian student shot dead on Boxing Day, to get his body home.

Hiren Patel, who runs Higher Walton Village Stores in Higher Walton with Sudhir Parekh, said he was willing to help raise money to fly the body of Lancaster University post graduate scholar Anuj Bidve back to India.

The 23-year-old was shot in the head at point-blank range as he walked with a group of other students in Salford.It is now being treated as a hate crime related to racism.

His devastated family are trying to persuade the authorities to cut through red tape to get the body home quickly.

Hiren, 29, said: “I really feel for the family. They don’t understand the process. All they want is their son back so say their last goodbyes and I will be glad to help with any interpreting that needs to be done. It will be very expensive for them to get over here and take the body back.”

Lancaster University, where Anuj was studying microelectronics, has also pledged to help with repatriation costs and the campus Indian Society has already offered £500.

Lancaster University is popular with overseas students, with 113 undergraduate and 144 postgraduate Indian students studying at the campus.

Police have so far arrested a 20-year-old man and four others , two 17 year olds, one aged 16, and a 19-year-old on suspicion of murder.

Gujarati student is witness of Bidve’s unprovoked murder

Anuj Bidve

Witness of Bidve’s murder was a Gujarati student Sheetal Patel, 25 who said she held Mr Bidve’s hand as he lay dying in the street.

‘When we arrived at the scene, the guy was lying on the floor,’ she said. ‘I was holding his hand, but he was alive.

He was making noises. All I was saying is, “You’re very strong, you’re going to be all right”. We just kept on trying to keep him breathing and to make him know that we were there.
Murder probe: Police cordon off the scene following the random shooting in the early hours of the morning

‘There was one guy holding Anuj’s head trying to put pressure on the wound. And there was another guy who was on the phone to the police.’

Miss Patel said that ‘he was shot in the head, but the bullet didn’t go through his head’ and there did not appear to be an exit wound.

‘We all thought he was going to live,’ she added.

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