According to officials and preliminary autopsy results, a student at Purdue University was stabbed to death inside his dorm room on campus early Wednesday, and the suspect – the victim’s roommate- has been arrested in connection with the crime.
The victim, identified as 20-year-old Varun Manish Chheda, was a senior at Purdue studying data science. His roommate, identified as 22-year-old Ji Min Sha, was a junior majoring in cybersecurity and originally from Seoul, South Korea. During a news conference held near McCutcheon Hall, the residential building on Purdue’s West Lafayette campus where Chheda was killed, police said that Sha currently faces a murder charge for his alleged involvement in his roommate’s death, and is being held without bond in Tippecanoe County Jail.
According to the Tippecanoe County Coroner’s Office, a preliminary autopsy found that Chheda’s death was caused by “multiple sharp force traumatic injuries”. The suspected manner of death is homicide, with the final autopsy report pending the results of a toxicology test.
Mitch Daniels, the university president, addressed the student’s death said in a statement:
“I write to let you know that early this morning, one of our students was killed in his residence hall room,” noting that the student’s roommate reported the incident to police and was taken into custody as a suspect.
“This is as tragic an 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. We do not have all the details yet. Our Purdue University Police Department is conducting a thorough investigation of this incident so that we all may learn more about what transpired.”
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