Greater Manchester Police has said it is investigating a series of racially offensive tweets by former Coronation Street star Marc Anwar which resulted in his sacking from the ITV soap.
A spokesman for the force said: "On Sunday 25 September, 2016 police received a report of a hate crime. Police have launched an investigation and inquiries are ongoing."
Forty-five-year-old Pakistan-born Anwar, who joined the show in 2014 to play the role of Sharif Nazir, was dismissed from the soap with "immediate effect" after ITV was alerted to the posts by the Sunday Mirror.
Anwar has since released a short video on YouTube to apologise for his actions, saying he posted the comments "in a moment of madness".
Speaking in the one-minute clip, he said: "I'd like to offer my sincerest apologies to anyone I may have offended with my tweets on Friday evening - and especially people from India.
"This was never my intention. The language was unacceptable. I feel I've let a lot of people down – my family, my friends, and my former colleagues.
"This, I again very sincerely apologise for."
The Sunday Mirror published a screenshot of messages posted on Anwar's account, which has privacy protections, appearing to hit out at India over Kashmir and calling for Pakistani actors to stop working in the country.
The paper quoted an ITV statement as saying: "We are deeply shocked by the entirely unacceptable, racially offensive comments made on Twitter by Marc Anwar.
"We have talked to Marc and, as a consequence of his comments, he will not be returning to Coronation Street with immediate effect."
Anwar's sacking comes at a high profile time for his character, with Sharif currently caught up in an affair storyline that will see him blackmailed by granddaughter Alya over secret trysts with family friend Sonia.
It is not yet known how the writers plan to handle his character's exit from the show.
Anwar, who appeared in the 51st State starring Samuel L Jackson, is the first Corrie star to be sacked since Chris Fountain (below) in 2013.
Fountain was axed by the soap following his exposure as a masked rapper who posted strongly worded videos online.
The YouTube clips showed the then 25-year-old rapping about sexual violence in the guise of his alter-ego 'The Phantom'.
