Indian-American student from Purdue University killed by roommate: Tippecanoe County Coroner

The Indian-American student was killed on Wednesday allegedly by his 22-year-old roommate who is under police custody for investigation.

Image Credit: ANI; Representational purpose only

Indiana: The twenty-year-old Purdue University student, who was found dead in his room at a residence hall on the Indiana campus was an Indian origin, according to the office of Tippecanoe County Coroner. Varun Manish Chheda was killed on Wednesday allegedly by his 22-year-old roommate who is in under police custody for investigation. "The 20-year-old Indian-American student was killed in a dorm by a roommate at Purdue University. Varun Manish Cheeda, a senior at Purdue University, from Indianapolis, died of `multiple sharp force traumatic injuries` in his dorm. Attack was unprovoked and senseless," the office said. Chheda was a 2020 graduate of Park Tudor, as per the Fox59, a tv station. Chheda`s roommate, 22-year-old Ji Min "Jimmy" Sha, from Korea is now in police custody and is the prime suspect in the case. 

She is a junior cybersecurity major and international student from Korea. At 12:45 am on Wednesday Sha called 911 to alert police about the death, Purdue University Police Chief Lesley Wiete said during a news conference Wednesday morning, reported NBC. However, no further details of the call and how the victim died in his room on the first floor of McCutcheon Hall were disclosed. The police are treating the death as a homicide case. According to the Police Chief, the suspect has not been booked yet. She said that at the time of the 911 call, only Chheda and Sha were in the room at the time.

"I believe this was unprovoked and senseless," she said. According to its website, Purdue has about 50,000 undergraduate and graduate students enrolled for the fall semester incident that happened, media reports said."I write to let you know that early this morning, one of our students was killed in his residence hall room. The suspect, the victim`s roommate, called police to report the incident and is in custody," a message from the University`s President read. We do not have all the details yet, he added and said that Purdue University Police Department is conducting a thorough investigation of this incident so that they can learn more about what transpired.

"As is always the case, staff from our Office of the Dean of Students, our Residence Halls, and clinicians at Purdue`s Counseling and Psychological Services are providing support and are available to anyone who needs or wants their care," the message added.

 Purdue`s president assured us that the safety and security of students are the single highest priority on the campus. "Purdue is an extraordinarily safe place on any given day, and compared with cities of Purdue`s population (approximately 60,000 in all), we experience a tiny fraction of violent and property crime that occurs elsewhere. Such statistics are of no consolation on a day like this. Death on our campus and among our Purdue family affects each of us deeply. I am ever grateful to all of you who continually take the time to care for each other and know you will do so in the days ahead," it added.