INDIANAPOLIS — Purdue University is vying for a subpoena to turn over the mental health records of 22-year-old student Ji Ming Xia, who has been charged with murdering his roommate.
Purdue University filed court documents this week saying the subpoena was invalid, arguing that the university did not give Sha permission to disclose his mental records.
Sha’s attorneys filed a motion seeking an insanity defense in November to determine Sha’s ability to stand trial.
Prosecutors allege that Sha waived his right not to consent to the release of his records by making an insanity plea.
However, Purdue University has no law requiring Sha’s records to be released because Sha made an insane plea, and the university will release those records without a specific court order that it must do so. says it can’t be done.
The university is asking the court to destroy the subpoena. If the court determines that the university must comply with the subpoena, Purdue University requires that it issue an order “explicitly authorizing” the release of the records.
Sha is accused of murdering his roommate, 20-year-old Varun Manish Chheda of Indianapolis, in October.
Credit: Henok Cronin
Varun Manish Chedda
According to court documents, Sha said he had called 911 and had just killed his roommate with a knife. Responding officers found Sha in the room with blood on her clothes and body.
Officers found Chedda dead in a chair. A folding knife was found on the floor. A preliminary autopsy determined Chheda’s cause of death to be multiple sharp force trauma to Chheda’s head and neck.
Cheda is a junior in college, studying Data Science. He also attended Purdue Honors College.
He received the National Merit Scholarship Award and was a runner-up in the 2016 Science Bowl competition.
Sha is a third year student studying cybersecurity at Purdue. According to police, Sha is an international student from South Korea.
