Indian student killed in US univ; Korean roommate arrested

Washington, Oct 06: A 20-year-old Indian-origin student was allegedly killed in his dormitory in the US state of Indiana and his Korean roommate taken into custody on murder charges. According to the reports, the deceased's friends heard him scream on the call while they were playing online game and talking with him.

Varun Manish Chheda from Indianapolis, who was studying at Purdue University, was found dead in McCutcheon Hall on the western edge of campus, police said on Wednesday.

His Korean roommate was arrested on a murder charge Wednesday, NBC News quoted the Purdue University Police Chief Lesley Wiete as saying.

Ji Min Sha, also known as Jimmy is a junior cybersecurity major and international student from Korea called 911 around 12:45 am on Wednesday to alert police about the death, Lesley Wiete said at a news conference on Wednesday morning. Details of the call were not disclosed. Authorities said the incident happened in a room on the first floor of McCutcheon Hall.

Chheda was studying data science at the university, news agency PTI reported. According to preliminary autopsy results, he died of 'multiple sharp force traumatic injuries', and the manner of death was homicide.

Purdue University Police Chief Wiete told PTI that she believes the attack was "unprovoked" and "senseless'', Fox News reported.

Arunabh Sinha, a childhood friend of Chheda's, told NBC News that Chheda had been gaming and talking with friends online through Discord on Tuesday night when they suddenly heard screaming on the call. Sinha was not playing with his friends that night, but they told him they heard the attack and didn't know what happened. They woke up Wednesday morning to news of his death.

Wiete said Sha, 22, was taken into custody minutes after the 911 call and taken to the police station for further investigation. Chheda's death is Purdue's first on-campus homicide in more than eight years, police said.

University President Mitch Daniels said Chheda's death was ''as tragic an event as we can imagine happening on our campus,'' adding that ''our hearts and thoughts go out to all of those affected by this terrible event."