iNDICA NEWS BUREAU-
The Purdue University student, Ji Min Sha, who is accused of stabbing his roommate to death has been charged with murder and ordered held without bond before he goes on trial. Documents filed on October 13 to formally charge Ji “Jimmy” Min Sha state that he “did knowingly or intentionally kill” Chheda. The police stated that Sha had attacked Chedda “unprovoked”.
Sha, a junior majoring in cyber security and an international student from Seoul, South Korea, is scheduled to appear for a hearing before the Tippecanoe Circuit Court on December 2. A trial date for the case has yet to be scheduled.
The affidavit added that Sha admitted to having used the knife to kill Chheda while he was sitting in the chair where police found him. The Tippecanoe County Coroner’s Office said that the cause of death was “multiple sharp force traumatic injuries” sustained by Chedda in the attack.
Chheda was found dead in his room at McCutcheon Hall, a residential building on the school’s campus in West Lafayette, Indiana On October 5. Sha called the police at around 12:45 a.m. alerting them about the death of his roommate in their first-floor dorm room on the campus in West Lafayette, which is about 65 miles northwest of Indianapolis or two hours southeast of Chicago. The probable cause affidavit filed in this regard states that Sha had called 911 and told police that he had just killed his roommate with a knife.
The police stated that Chheda, a senior majoring in data science from Indianapolis, was found dead in the room located on the first floor of McCutcheon Hall. Chheda was found in a chair with multiple stab wounds and lacerations on his head and neck. The police’s affidavit said that there was blood spatter on the wall, a pool of blood on the floor, and a folding knife on the floor.
Earlier, while being taken to the court for his first appearance before a judge on October 7 Sha apologized to the victim’s relatives. When asked if he wanted to say anything to the victim’s family, Sha said: “I’m very sorry”. He also claimed that he was being blackmailed but did not clarify further what he meant by that. The police are yet to ascertain what was the reason behind the “unprovoked” attack on Chheda.
In a statement issued on the day of the incident, Purdue University President Mitch Daniels said: “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.”
