Experts to evaluate if Purdue student accused of killing roommate competent to stand trial

Noe Padilla, Lafayette Journal & Courier
·2 min read
Students leave notes and battery powered lights on the ‘Unfinished Block P’ during a vigil for Varun Manish Chheda, Wednesday, Oct. 5, 2022, at Purdue University in West Lafayette, Ind. Varun Manish Chheda, a student at Purdue, was killed inside McCutcheon Hall early Wednesday.
Students leave notes and battery powered lights on the ‘Unfinished Block P’ during a vigil for Varun Manish Chheda, Wednesday, Oct. 5, 2022, at Purdue University in West Lafayette, Ind. Varun Manish Chheda, a student at Purdue, was killed inside McCutcheon Hall early Wednesday.

LAFAYETTE, Ind. — The judge overseeing the case of Ji Min Sha, suspected of murdering his roommate at Purdue University, granted a motion on Wednesday to determine if Sha is competent enough to stand trial and his sanity at the time of the alleged murder.

The order assigned two medical professionals to evaluate Sha’s competency and to conduct examinations on Sha to determine his state of sanity at the time of the alleged murder.

Sha, 22, stabbed his roommate, 20-year-old Varun Manish Chheda, inside their first-floor McCutcheon Hall room early Oct. 5, according to prosecutors, who charged Sha with murder.

The results from the medical professionals’ examination will be released at a competency hearing scheduled for Dec. 2, 2022.

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The competency to stand trial standard is that Sha must have the mental ability to understand the charges and court proceedings and assist his attorney in his defense. If he's unable to do that, the court will get Sha mental-health treatment until he is deemed competent to stand trial, according to Indiana law.

When his competency is restored, Sha will stand trial, according to Indiana law.

When Sha is determined to be competent to stand trial, the defense aims to raise the defense of insanity for Sha’s action, according to the filing.

On Oct. 5, according to prosecutors, Sha, 22, stabbed his roommate, Varun Manish Chheda, 20, several times in the head and neck with a folding knife police found on the floor near the chair where Chheda sat.

Sha called the police around 12:45 a.m. on Oct. 5 to report the killing.

When officers arrived, they found Sha inside the dorm room wearing blood-stained clothes, according to prosecutors.

Two days after the killing of Chheda, Sha appeared in court at the Tippecanoe County Jail where he told reporters that he was blackmailed and apologized.

This article originally appeared on Lafayette Journal & Courier: Medical professionals appointed to determine if Ji Min Sha competent to stand trial