Friends of an Indiana student heard his screams while he was being killed allegedly by his roommate.
Varun Manish Chheda, 20, of Indianapolis, was killed in his Purdue University dorm room early Wednesday in what Indiana police called an “unprovoked and senseless” murder.
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Ji Min Sha, 22, a junior studying cybersecurity, was being held in jail but as of Thursday afternoon, he had not been formally charged.
Chheda and his friends were online gaming the night he died.
One young man, Andrew Wu, told WTHR he “heard screaming” through the gaming platform.
It was confirmed by police that the suspect was not participating in their online game.
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Investigators are trying to determine the motive for Chheda’s killing but confirmed to the outlet it was Sha who called 911.
The death was ruled a homicide after a preliminary autopsy found Chheda’s cause of death was “multiple sharp force traumatic injuries.”
Chheda was a junior at the university and studied data science.
Childhood friend Arunabh Sinha paid tribute to Chheda on Facebook.
“Losing a friend like Varun hurts hard,” Sinha wrote. “Varun was many things but above all, he was brilliant, humble, ethical, and family-driven.”
Sinha added: “Varun touched lives at every turn he took, from Sycamore, Park Tudor, and Purdue, to everywhere outside of school he was involved. He was destined to make a large impact in our world and while we have been robbed of this opportunity.”
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