A fifth person has been arrested by police investigating the fatal shooting of an Indian student in Manchester.

Anuj Bidve, 23, was gunned down at point-blank range as he walked with friends near their hotel in Salford, Greater Manchester, in the early hours of Boxing Day.

Greater Manchester Police (GMP) said that a 20-year-old man was arrested in the early hours of Thursday. A 16-year-old boy, two boys aged 17 and a 19-year-old man are also being held on suspicion of murder.

Mr Bidve was in a group of nine male and female Indian students visiting Manchester for a short break over the Christmas holidays.

Police said the students, who had not been drinking, were walking from their hotel towards the city centre and became aware of two men on the other side of the street.

The gunman, a white male in his 20s who was wearing a grey top, walked across the road and engaged the victim in a short conversation before producing the gun and shooting the student at close range to the side of the head.

The killer then ran back across the street before the pair fled on foot towards Asgard Drive and the Ordsall housing estate.

Armed response units were sent to the scene at around 1.35am. Mr Bidve collapsed to the ground and died in hospital a short time later.

He was studying for a micro-electronics postgraduate qualification at Lancaster University, and was described by tutors as "an outstanding applicant at the very beginning of a promising career".

His family in Pune, Maharashtra, said they had "lost faith in everything" as they struggle to come to terms with the tragedy.

Members of Mr Bidve's family have said they intend to fly to Manchester by the end of the week to take his body to India.

Mr Bidve arrived in the UK in September after completing an electronics degree at Pune University. Speaking from Mr Bidve's home town of Pune this week, Rakesh Sonawane, 30, who is married to the student's sister Nehal, said: "Anuj had been very happy.

It was his dream to go to the UK but unfortunately his dream could not last longer than three months," Mr Sonawane said.

He added that his brother-in-law had planned to return to India "to serve his nation" following his postgraduate studies in Lancaster.

The student's father Subhash, a branch manager with an energy company, has called on the UK Government to speed up the process of returning his son's body to his home country.

A spokesman for the Indian High Commission said that officers had visited Manchester for talks with the police and the body would be released for repatriation when the "investigation requirements" were completed.

In a statement issued through GMP, Mr Bidve's family said: "Anuj was a loving son, a super caring brother and first and forever a friend for many."

Anyone with information is asked to call the incident room on 0161 856 5448 or Crimestoppers on 0800 555 111.