London, Jan 1: The killer of Indian student Anuj Bidve, shot dead at point-blank range in the UK, allegedly laughed as he collapsed with a gun wound to his head.

The killer, who shot Anuj near a hotel in Salford, Greater Manchester, is thought to have asked him for the time before shooting him with a handgun on December 26.

Greater Manchester Police think the gunman may have had racist motives and are treating the murder as a “hate crime”.

They have offered a reward of 50,000 pounds to help catch the killer, Mirror.co.uk reports.

Speaking from their home in India, Anuj’s relatives said they were struggling to come to terms with the “sadistic ­attack”.

Anuj’s brother-in-law Rakesh Sonowane shook his head in disbelief as he said, ‘the guy who shot him laughed at him before he ran off.’

Anuj’s family, who first learned of his death on Facebook, revealed he had spoken to them just hours before he was killed, first online over Skype on Christmas Eve and then by phone on Christmas morning.

The 23-year-old Lancaster University student was walking with his other Indian friends towards Manchester city center, where they were stopped by a man who began a short conversation with the victim before taking out a handgun and blasting him at close range.

Police said a 16-year-old boy and two 17-year-old boys arrested over the murder have been released on bail pending further inquiries.

Two men, aged 19 and 20, remain in custody.