LONDON: British police said on Thursday they were treating the murder of an Indian student in northwest England as a hate crime, as they arrested a fifth person in connection with the shooting.

Anuj Bidve, a 23-year-old postgraduate student, was shot in the head at close range on Monday in Salford, near Manchester, while he was out with other Indian friends.

A 20-year-old man on Thursday became the fifth person to be arrested on suspicion of Bidve's murder, joining a 16-year-old, two 17-year-olds and a 19-year-old in police custody.

Chief Superintendent Kevin Mulligan said there was no evidence to suggest the murder was racially motivated, but that police were treating it as a hate crime.

“We have not established a clear motive for the senseless murder of Anuj, and there is no definitive evidence pointing to it being racially motivated,” he told a press conference.—AFP