‘A good person’: Friends remember slain Indian student in US

New York: As students gathered at Purdue University campus in the US to hold a candlelight vigil in the memory of slain Indian American student Varun Manish Chheda, his friends, shocked and shattered, remembered him as a “good and humble person”.

“He was a good person and a really good student,” a friend, who took classes with slain Indian-American student Varun Manish Chheda, told the local media in the US.

Sumeeth Guda, a mathematics and science student, who worked with Chheda on group projects, described him as a hardworking and diligent person, the Purdue Exponent reported.

Just 10 days shy of his 21st birthday, Varun Manish Chheda, a senior majoring in data science from Purdue University, was killed in an overnight attack by his roommate Ji Min Sha, a 22-year-old junior cybersecurity major from Seoul.

Arunabh Sinha, who went to school with Chheda for 12 years, remembered him as smart and humble. “A really smart guy, always top of his class, top of the chess club, science bowl team. He was really humble about it,” Sinha told NBC News.

Chheda graduated from Park Tudor High School in 2020 and was a semifinalist in the National Merit Scholarship Program the year he graduated. He was also a candidate in the 2020 US Presidential Scholars Program and ran cross country in 2019.

“The entire Park Tudor community is incredibly saddened by the tragic loss of Varun Chheda, Park Tudor class of 2020. Our prayers are with his family at this difficult time,” Dennis Bisgaard, the interim head of Park Tudor, told Fox News Digital in a statement.

The Purdue University website said that it is currently home to 2,300 Indian students-793 undergraduates and 1,507 graduate and professional program students.

About 50,000 undergraduate and graduate students are enrolled for the fall semester, according to the university website.