On Wednesday, Varun Manish Chheda was allegedly murdered by his 22-year-old roommate, who is currently being held by police while an investigation is being conducted.
At a resident hall on the Indiana campus of Purdue University, a 20-year-old student was allegedly killed by his roommate overnight and had “several sharp force traumatic injuries.”
The student’s death has raised a number of questions since, according to early autopsy findings, it was a homicide, while other people have labeled it as murder.
On Wednesday, Varun Manish Chheda was allegedly murdered by his 22-year-old roommate, who is currently being held by police while an investigation is being conducted.
Chheda graduated from Park Tudor in 2020, according to the television network Fox59.
According to the television station, one of Chheda’s closest friends remembers him saying that he will be remembered as a kind, wise, and passionate individual. A vigil was also scheduled for him.
Arunabh Sinha, a friend from Chheda’s early years, told NBC News that on Tuesday night, while Chheda was gaming online and chatting with friends, they suddenly heard screams. Sinha’s friends said they heard the attack but didn’t know what happened that night even though they weren’t playing with him. They learned of his passing on Wednesday morning.
Student Varun Manish Chheda’s death case:
The main suspect in the case is Ji Min “Jimmy” Sha, a 22-year-old Korean who was Chheda’s roommate. Ji Min “Jimmy” is currently being held by police. She is a junior foreign student from Korea majoring in cybersecurity.
She called 911 at 12:45 a.m. on Wednesday to inform authorities of what had happened, according to Purdue University Police Chief Lesley Wiete, who spoke at a news conference on Wednesday, as per NBC. No other information about the call or the victim’s death in his room on the first floor of McCutcheon Hall was made public. The death is being investigated by the police as a homicide.
Varun Manish Chheda, a senior from Indianapolis who was studying data science, was identified as the deceased by the chief and the Tippecanoe County Coroner Office. Varun was 20 years old.
An autopsy is being planned. The suspect has been taken into custody and brought to the police station for additional investigation, according to Purdue University Police Chief Write.
The police chief claims that the culprit has not yet been taken into custody. She claimed that Chheda and Sha were the only people in the room at the time when the authorities were notified. She noted that neither of her roommates was asleep. Purdue President Mitch Daniels described the incident as “a tragic event as we can imagine happening on our campus and our hearts and thoughts go out to all of those affected by this terrible event,” saying “I believe this was unprovoked and senseless.”
As per the records of the fall semester, Purdue has around 50,000 undergraduate and graduate students enrolled, according to the university’s website.
“I’m writing to let you know that one of our students was assassinated in his dorm room early this morning. The perpetrator, who was the victim’s roommate, reported the event to authorities and is currently in arrest “The university president’s message was read. He continued, “We don’t have all the specifics yet. The Purdue University Police Department is looking into this situation thoroughly to find out more about what happened.
The statement continued, “As is customary, employees from our Office of the Dean of Students, our Residence Halls, and clinicians at Purdue’s Counseling and Psychological Services are offering assistance and are available to anybody who needs or wants their care.”
The president of Purdue University reaffirmed that student safety and security are the university’s top concerns. “Purdue is an incredibly safe environment on any given day, and in comparison with cities with Purdue’s population (about 60,000 in total), we experience a minuscule fraction of the violent and property crime that occurs elsewhere.”
“Such figures offer little comfort on a day like today. Each of us is profoundly impacted by death on our campus or within our Purdue family. I will always be grateful to all of you for taking the time to look out for one another and I know you will continue to do so in the days to come.”
