By: Macy Dennon

Local News Editor

Ji “Jimmy” Min Sha fatally stabbed his roommate, 20-year-old Purdue University student Varun Manish Chheda on Oct. 5. Sha has since been arrested for the murder and is awaiting sentencing.

An international student from South Korea, Sha called 911 to inform police of the death. The police did not release the full report about the call. Authorities disclosed that the incident occured in McCutcheon Hall in a room on the first floor. The police ruled his death a homicide after a preliminary autopsy revealed that Chheda suffered multiple stab wounds

He is currently being held in the Tippecanoe County Jail on a murder charge with no bail set. Chheda’s murder remains under investigation. Sha apologized in court and said that an individual blackmailed him, but gave no further information regarding the unnamed blackmailer. 

Purdue University President Mitch Daniels conveyed in a statement, “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.”

At the time of his death, Chheda was a senior majoring in data science, and was only 10 days away from his 21st birthday. He graduated in 2020 from Park Tudor School, a private K-12 school on the northside of Indianapolis.According to a Facebook post from the school, Chheda was a semifinalist in the National Merit Scholarship Program the year he graduated. During the 2015 and 2016 academic year, he was a member of the Sycamore Mathcounts team and won first place honors at the state Concurso Academico Spanish competition.

His loved ones remember his life in an online obituary, as linked, as being wonderful to all his family members. The obituary states, “He loved the sciences, was very inquisitive and his passion for any subject matter was contagious. He enjoyed the simple things in life and never sought out attention or praise for his accomplishments. His absence will be sorely felt by those who knew and loved him.”

Purdue spokesperson Trevor Peters revealed that the school has moved the students living near the scene to other rooms, and has since made counselors available. Kolitha Perera, a freshman at Purdue who lives on the floor in which police found Chheda, told NBC,“When I saw the email it didn’t even list which residence hall it happened at. I had to Google it to find out what happened and was shocked that it was in our building.

(Sources: NBC, ABC, CNN, Dignity Memorial, Washington Post, Indy Star, USA Today, Facebook)