Ji Min Sha: Suspect who killed Purdue roommate says he was 'blackmailed' and apologizes to victim's family
WEST LAFAYETTE, INDIANA: The alleged killer of Purdue University roommate Ji Min 'Jimmy' Sha claimed Friday, Oct 7, that he was blackmailed. Ji Min 'Jimmy' Sha, 22, admitted to reporters that he was "blackmailed" and was "very sorry" after his roommate Varun Manish Chedda died after midnight on Oct 5. Daily Mail reports that Ji Min "Jimmy" Sha made the comments to reporters ahead of his first court appearance after the murder.
Varun Manish Chheda, a student at Purdue University, was murdered earlier this week while his friends and fellow students were playing video games. They heard his terrified screams through their headsets. The 20-year-old Chheda suffered multiple sharp force injuries to his body in his dorm room in McCutcheon Hall. Ji Min Sha, his roommate, was arrested soon after.
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The alleged murderer briefly mentioned blackmail in court but did not go into further detail. Ji Min Sha confessed to the murder and claimed to own the knife used to stab Chedda after the victim called the police to report the incident, according to a police report. According to the police report, Chedda was found lying on a chair covered in blood and had numerous puncture wounds.
Sha, a South Korean student studying cybersecurity, has not yet been formally charged with the murder by police. Judge Sarah Wyatt gave prosecutors three more days to officially charge the student, who is being held without bail, with murder.
The Exponent reports that one of Chheda's friends, Arunabh Sinha, stated that Chheda had been gaming during a Discord call Tuesday night. Sinha himself was not on the call, but his friends told him they heard the attack and screams but did not know what happened, only to learn of their friend's death the next day. Another friend revealed that one of the others on the call was a Purdue student and the rest were students from other schools.
Losing a friend like Varun hurts hard, wrote Sinha on Facebook remembering his friend Chheda, "Losing a friend like Varun hurts hard." He also said in his post, "Varun was many things but above all, he was brilliant, humble, ethical, and family-driven."
Andrew Mayes, a Purdue senior, told CBS4, "I think everybody is still trying to grasp everything that has happened." Mayes stopped by Chheda's memorial to drop a note saying "we’re not going to forget about him, that we love him." As the memorial keeps growing, Mayes said, "I think at the end of the day it shows that we’re all one, we’re all united." Purdue University Chief of Police Lesley Weite told ABC7, "I believe this was unprovoked and senseless. Our hearts go out to the victim and his family and friends.
Ji Min Sha's next court appearance has been set for Thursday, October 13.