A 20-year-old Indian-American student at Purdue University was allegedly killed in a residence hall in the US early Wednesday morning.
At about 12:44 am, the Purdue police received a 911 call from Varun Manish Chheda’s roommate Ji Min Sha, the school in West Lafayette, Indiana, said in a statement. The details of the call were not disclosed although the authorities said the incident happened in a room on the first floor of McCutcheon Hall, NBC News reported.
The police suspect that 22-year-old Ji Min "Jimmy" Sha, who is a junior cybersecurity major and an international student from South Korea, killed Chheda. Ji Min Sha has been held as the prime suspect for investigation.
"One roommate has attacked another with a knife," ABC 7 quoted Tippecanoe County Law Enforcement as saying over radio communications.
According to preliminary autopsy reports, Chheda, a student majoring in data science from Indianapolis, died of "multiple sharp force traumatic injuries" and "the manner of death was a homicide”.
Ji Min Sha has not been formally charged. Purdue University police chief Lesley Weite said the investigators are yet to find out the motive why Chheda was killed. However, the police believe the victim was awake at the time. The police chief also did not reveal details about weapons in the killing.
“I believe this was unprovoked and senseless,” ABC News quoted her as saying.
Meanwhile, Chheda’s childhood friend Arunabh Sinha said the victim had been gaming and talking with friends online through Discord on Tuesday night when they had heard screams over the call, NBC News reported.
Although Sinha was not a participant that night, his friends told him that they heard the attack but did not know what happened. The next morning, they received the news of Chheda’s death.
According to TV station Fox59, Chheda was a 2020 graduate of Park Tudor, who is described by his friend as a kind, intelligent and passionate person.
He was a candidate for the US Presidential Scholars Program in 2020 and a semi-finalist at the National Merit Scholarship Program, Mint reported quoting data from the Facebook post from the school.
A vigil was organised on the campus on Wednesday night for Chheda.
