New Delhi: The recent death of Purdue University student Neel Acharya has put the focus back on the security and safety of Indian and Indian-origin students at and around the campus that witnessed a total of four deaths from the community between 2022-2024.

Placed at No. 33 in the US and No. 86 worldwide in the 2024 Times Higher Education World University Rankings, the prestigious university is a dream of almost every student growing up in India as well as abroad. For some, the dreams came true with a heavy price.

A knife ends a 20-year-old life

On October 5, 2022, 20-year-old data science student Varun Manish Chheda was gaming and chatting online with friends when he was stabbed to death inside his first-floor McCutcheon Hall room on Purdue University’s West Lafayette campus. According to police, Varun’s death was Purdue’s first on-campus homicide in more than eight years.

Varun, whose grandfather migrated to the US in 1964 from Gujarat, was allegedly stabbed by his roommate multiple times in the head and neck with a folding knife, an incident that the police called “senseless and unprovoked”.

Ji Min Sha, a 22-year-old cybersecurity major from South Korea, was charged with Varun’s murder and was found fit to stand trial in September last year. He could face between 45 and 65 years in prison if found guilty of murder.

Making his first court appearance before the Tippecanoe County Magistrate just after the murder on October 14, Sha claimed he was “blackmailed” when asked why he killed Varun but did not elaborate further. He also said he was “very sorry” when asked if he had anything to tell the victim’s family.

Remembered as a “humble person” and “bright student” by faculty and friends, Varun was just 10 days away from celebrating his 21st birthday. Just a few hours before the murder, his mother sent him her usual evening text message: “Eat well, sleep well... Finish your homework,” and Varun responded by saying: “Yes, Mom, I’ve done it all.” In his last text to his mother at 11:45 pm, Varun wrote: “Goodnight mama”.