A twin tragedy

Just a year and a week after Varun’s death, 25-year-old Tanya Roy and her twin sister Rayna Roy died after falling from their seventh-floor apartment around the Purdue campus on October 11, 2023.

While there was no record of Rayna as a Purdue student, Tanya graduated with a bachelor of science degree in environmental and ecological engineering in 2020 from the university and was a recipient of the Presidential Scholarship in 2019.

The twin sisters were found dead in an alley between Campus Edge Apartments and Westwood Apartments, West Lafayette, according to The Purdue Exponent, the university’s student-run newspaper.

First responders tried to provide life-saving help but the girls died at the scene, the West Lafayette Police Department Lt Jon Eager said, adding that the girls’ parents were visiting from New York State and were anticipating helping the twins move back. According to the forensic autopsy, the sisters died by suicide as a result of multiple blunt-force injuries.

From missing to being missed

On January 28, 2024, officials were called around 11.30 am to 500 Allison Road in West Lafayette for a possible body, which turned out to be that of 19-year-old Neel Acharya. Neel went missing a day before his death and was last seen by the Uber driver who dropped him off at the University. His body was found outside Maurice J Zucrow Laboratories on the Purdue campus.

He was a double major in computer science and data science at the John Martinson Honors College where the slain Indian-American Varun was also a student, majoring in data science. According to his LinkedIn profile, Neel finished his schooling at St Mary’s School in Pune before joining Purdue in 2022.

He also participated in and won the Cozmo Clench competition at Techfest 2018-19 hosted by the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT). At Purdue, Neel worked as an Undergraduate Research Assistant and was adept at C (Programming Language), Artificial Intelligence (AI), Research Skills, Python (Programming Language), and Generative Art.