An Indian student pursuing a double major at the prestigious Purdue University in the US state of Indiana, who went missing on Sunday, has been confirmed dead, the university has said.
Tippecanoe County Coroner’s Office officials were called around 11:30 a.m. on Sunday to 500 Allison Road in West Lafayette for a possible dead body. Upon arrival, a “college-aged male” was found deceased outside Maurice J. Zucrow Laboratories on Purdue’s campus. Neel Acharya went missing on Sunday. “It is with great sadness that I inform you that one of our students Neel Acharya has passed away. The leadership in the Department of Computer Science expresses our profound sorrow for his passing. I am deeply saddened by his loss. My condolences go out to his friends family and all affected,” Chris Clifton, interim head of the university’s Computer Science Department, said in an email to the department on Monday.
Clifton said Neel was a driven individual and academically talented. He pursued a double major in computer science and data science and was a John Martinson Honors College student. “He aspired to pursue numerous academic achievements and shared profound connections with friends. He was very proud of and cared deeply for his brothers at Triangle Fraternity. Neel could be counted on to reach out to others and make them feel included. He was an achiever and an includer, with his: most notable qualities being genuine kindness and unwavering compassion,” Clifton said. Clifton told the local Purdue Exponent newspaper that he received an email from the Office of the Dean of Students confirming Acharya’s death.“A deceased person was found that matched Neel’s description and had Neel’s ID on (him),” he said.
Goury Acharya, the mother of the dead student, in a post on X on Monday, said: “Our son Neel Acharya has been missing since yesterday January 28 (12:30 AM EST) He is studying at Purdue University in the US. He was last seen by the Uber driver who dropped him off at Purdue University. We are looking for any info on him. Please help us if you know anything.”
Responding to her post, India’s Consulate General in Chicago, said: “(The) Consulate is in touch with Purdue University authorities and also with Neel’s family. The consulate will extend all possible support and help.”
The exact reason for death is not known yet.
Acharya’s demise comes after the news of the grisly murder of Vivek Saini, another Indian student who had recently earned an MBA degree in the US and was hammered to death by a homeless drug addict in Georgia state’s Lithonia city, making it the second student death in the US in the past few weeks.
FGN5
SKOREA-NKOREA-LD MISSILES
South Korea says North Korea fired cruise missiles in 3rd launch of such weapons this month
Seoul (AP) South Korea’s military detected North Korea firing multiple cruise missiles into the sea off its western coast Tuesday in its third round of tests of such weapons this month.
The launches came amid heightened tensions in the region, where the pace of both North Korea’s weapons demonstrations and the United States’ combined military exercises with allies South Korea and Japan have intensified in a tit-for-tat.
South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff said the South Korean and US militaries were analyzing the launches. It didn’t immediately provide specific flight details, including the number of missiles fired and how far they flew.
The launches follow tests on January 24 and January 28 of what North Korea has described as a new cruise missile developed for submarine launches.
The North also on January 14 tested a new solid-fuel intermediate-range missile, which underscored its efforts to advance its lineup of weapons targeting remote US targets in the Pacific, including the military hub of Guam.
