Purdue Student Accused of Stabbing Roommate to Death Says He Was ‘Blackmailed’

A Purdue University student is accused of fatally stabbing his roommate while playing an online game in their dorm room. He later alleged to reporters he was “blackmailed” with no further elaboration.

On Wednesday at around 12:45 a.m, Ji Min “Jimmy” Sha (pictured), 22, called 911 and told dispatchers he killed his roommate, Varun Manish Chheda, 20, with a knife.

When police arrived, they discovered “blood spatter on the wall, a pool of blood on the floor and a folding knife on the floor,” according to an arrest affidavit via ABC News.

Sha, who was sitting in a chair when officers entered, admitted to them he had murdered Chheda. He is now facing a preliminary charge of murder.

According to the Tippecanoe County Coroner’s Office, the official cause of death was multiple “sharp force trauma injuries to the head and neck.”

One student told WTHR that he was playing an online game with Chheda when he heard screaming through the phone. Authorities later confirmed Sha was not involved in playing the game.

Before making his first court appearance on Friday, Sha told reporters outside the courtroom he was “blackmailed” but did not elaborate any further. He also told reporters he was “very sorry” when asked if he had any message to the victim’s family.

At a press conference earlier this week, Purdue University Chief of Police Lesley Weite noted no other roommate was living with Sha, a cybersecurity major from South Korea, and Chheda, a data science major from Indianapolis.

“I believe this was unprovoked and senseless,” said Weite via WLS. “Our hearts go out to the victim and his family and friends. I can’t even imagine what his family is going through.”

This is the first homicide to occur at the West Lafayette, Indiana, school since January 2014, when Andrew F. Boldt, 21, was shot in the basement of the electrical engineering building, NBC News reported.

“This is as tragic an event as we can imagine happening on our campus,” President Mitch Daniels said in a statement Wednesday. [O]ur hearts and thoughts go out to all of those affected by this terrible event.”

A vigil was held for Chheda on Wednesday night, although classes were not canceled.

You can follow Ethan Letkeman on Twitter at @EthanLetkeman.