Anuj's family seeks help from Maharashtra CM, Pawar

Rakesh Sonawane, the brother-in-law of Anuj Bidve, has sought help from Maharashtra Chief Minister Prithviraj Chavan to expedite the process of getting the murdered youth's body back home as early as possible.

Anuj, 23, a student of Lancaster University, United Kingdom since the last three months, was murdered in Salford in Greater Manchester on December 26 when he was out with his friends in Salford for a vacation.

Rakesh told rediff.com that he has met the chief minister for two minutes during the latter's Pune tour. Chavan assured Rakesh that he will seek the help of External Affairs Minister S M Krishna to expedite the matter.

The family is also trying to get in touch with Union Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar, said Anuj's cousin Aditya Salunke.

"We have sent two faxes to Sharad Pawarji on Wednesday," confirmed Rakesh from Pune. The family is yet to receive a response from Pawar, he added.

Anuj's father Subhash and Rakesh are likely to fly to the UK in the next couple of days, said Aditya.

"They have applied for their visas today and hopefully they should be in UK in the next couple of days," Aditya said.

Aditya said that while Anuj's father has overcome the shock of losing his son, his mother is yet to regain her composure.

"She has been crying continuously from the time she heard the news," Aditya said.

Mohit Gundecha, Anuj's brother-in-law, said that the family is desperately hoping that the legal proceedings in Greater Manchester wind up by Friday, so that they can start the formalities to get Anuj's body back to India.

The family has one more day to sort out the issue before year-end holidays begin in the UK, Mohit said.

"Judicial requirements make it mandatory for a second post-mortem on Anuj's body. But it cannot happen before the police close their investigation," he added.

Micahel Delrosso, official spokesperson for the Greater Manchester Police, told rediff.com that they have made a fifth arrest in the case and all those arrested are between the age group of 16 to 20 years.

"We are trying to bring the offenders to book and get justice for Anuj and his family. That is our primary responsibility," said Delrosso.

While not committing about the time-frame for the completion of investigations, Delrosso emphasised that the GMP is working hard to ensure that Anuj's body is handed over to his grieving family as soon as possible.

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