US: Indian origin student stabbed to death in Indiana, gaming friends heard screams through call

Varun Manish Chheda, a 20-year-old Indian origin student was found dead in his dormitory room in the US state of Indiana on Wednesday, the police reported. The student was killed inside his room and his roommate has been held by the police till the time more details are revealed about the murder.

Chheda was a student at the Purdue University in Indianapolis and was found dead in McCutcheon Hall on the western edge of campus, police said on Wednesday. Chheda used to share his dorm room with his Korean roommate, who had called in the murder.

Another university student was arrested on a murder charge Wednesday, NBC News quoted the school's police chief as saying. The police said that Chheda’s roommate, Ji Min “Jimmy” Sha, had called 911 at 12:45 am on Wednesday to alert the police about the death.

Purdue University Police Chief Lesley Wiete revealed in a news conference on Wednesday that Min Sha was a cybersecurity major and international student from Korea. Though he was the one who called in the murder, he has been taken into custody, likely as a prime suspect.

Chheda died of "multiple sharp force traumatic injuries," and the manner of death was a homicide, according to preliminary autopsy results. Chief Wiete said she believes the attack was “unprovoked” and “senseless", Fox News reported.

Meanwhile, it was reported that Varun Chheda was an active gamer and was on a gaming call with his online friends when he was attacked. Arunabh Sinha, a childhood friend of Mr Chheda's, told NBC News that Mr Chheda had been gaming and talking with friends online on Tuesday night.

Sinha said that his gaming friends on the call had heard Chheda’s screams online and heard a part of the attack, yet didn’t know what had happened. They later woke up on Wednesday to the news of the Indian student’s murder in his dorm room.

From what was revealed from the autopsy report, the Indian-origin student was most likely stabbed to death with a sharp object. Sha, 22, was taken into custody minutes after the 911 call and taken to the police station for further investigation.

(With PTI inputs)

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