Bidve murder accused Kiaran Stapleton due in crown court - BBC News

2 January 2012 Last updated at 22:43 ET

The man accused of the Boxing Day murder of Indian student Anuj Bidve will make his second court appearance in 24 hours later.

Kiaran Stapleton, 20, from Salford, is due to appear before a judge at Manchester Crown Court.

At magistrates' court on Monday he referred to himself as "Psycho Stapleton" when asked his name.

Mr Bidve, a 23-year-old micro-electronics student, was shot in the head at close range.

He had been studying at Lancaster University and was visiting friends in Greater Manchester over Christmas.

As they walked along Ordsall Lane, Salford, at about 01:30 GMT on Boxing Day, Mr Bidve was shot. He died later in hospital.

Mr Stapleton appeared at City of Manchester Magistrates' Court following his arrest last Thursday.

Mr Bidve's father, Subhash, described Anuj as a "loving son, a super-caring brother and first and forever a friend for many".

He was critical of the way British and Indian authorities initially handled the case after learning of his son's death on the social networking site, Facebook.

'Pay our respects'

Two senior officers from Greater Manchester Police flew out to India to meet the family in their home town of Pune in India.

Assistant Chief Constable Dawn Copley, of Greater Manchester Police, said it was important "to make personal contact with the family and offer them every support".

"We need to explain to them in person where we are up to in the investigation and what we are doing to ensure Anuj's body is released to them as soon as possible," she added.

On Monday evening a crowd of about 200 people gathered in Ordsall Lane, Salford, to hold a candle-lit vigil for Mr Bidve.

Organiser Vikrant Gupta said "a lot people have turned out and mainly the local community has come out and they're showing their support".

The student's death was "an incident which has happened out of the blue" and the only thing they could now do was to "support the family back in India and pay our respects".

Five people have so far been arrested by police in connection with the inquiry.