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29 March 2024

British man in court over Indian student murder

Published
By AFP

A man appeared in court on Tuesday over the murder of an Indian student who was shot dead in England as he visited friends over the Christmas period.

Kiaran Stapleton, 20, is accused of shooting Anuj Bidve, 23, a student from the Indian city of Pune, in Salford near Manchester in northwest England on December 26.

Bidve, who was studying for a postgraduate qualification in micro-electronics at Lancaster University in northwest England, was shot once in the head and died a short time later in hospital.

The accused described himself as "Psycho Stapleton" at an earlier hearing when asked his name.

Bidve, described in court as a "promising and clever" student, was with a group of fellow Indian students visiting Manchester when he was murdered as the group walked into the city centre.

Stapleton appeared via videolink for the brief hearing at Manchester Crown Court on Tuesday.

The judge hearing the case has imposed strict reporting restrictions.

A further hearing is expected later this year.

The victim's parents visited the scene of the murder in January and were also received by a British-Indian lawmaker, Keith Vaz, at the Houses of Parliament in London.