Father Of Salford Shooting Victim Speaks

“We have made the journey from India in order to see Anuj, see the place where he died, and most importantly take Anuj home with us.

“Whilst in England we have taken the opportunity to meet a number of other people who were involved in Anuj's life and to achieve our goal of taking Anuj back home with us as soon as possible.

“As you can imagine this has been an exceedingly difficult journey to make.

“When Anuj left India in September last year he was full of hope and ambition for the future. We were all so very proud of him. Anuj was our only son and we cannot comprehend this dreadful tragedy.

Anuj's father reads statement in Salford
“We do not blame the people of this city for what happened. The only person we blame is the man responsible for taking Anuj away from us in such a senseless act of violence on Boxing Day morning.

“We have been deeply moved and have taken comfort from the hundreds of messages we have received from the people in Salford and Lancaster and especially the Indian community and would like to take this opportunity to say thank you.

“We have been overwhelmed by the reaction and interest of the media both at home in India and here in the United Kingdom. We would like to thank the police for the manner in which this investigation has been conducted. We are confident in the British justice system and sincerely hope that this will eventually bring justice for Anuj.

“We now wish to have some time on our own to take in the enormity of the situation and say some prayers for Anuj at the very place where he died.”