Stepmother’s ex-husband was also arrested.
A nine-year-old Indian girl has been found dead under mysterious circumstances in her house in Queens, New York on Friday.
The police arrested the child’s step-mother and step mother’s ex-husband for murder.
Ashdeep Kaur, the victim, had moved to Queens from India just three months ago and lived in an apartment with her father Sukhjinder Singh and her stepmother Shamdai Arjun Pardas that was shared with another couple.
The girl was found dead in the bathtub of her home in Queens with bruises on her body.
As per the New York Post report, the housemate had seen Ashdeep going in the bathroom with Pardas, who later came out alone and left the building. She allegedly said that Ashdeep was taking a bath.
The house mate then checked and discovered the child’s lifeless body in the bathtub that had no water. Police found Pardas several hours later at another location in Queens and took her for questioning.
On Sunday, police arrested Raymond Narayan for helping his ex-wife Pardas leave her home after allegedly strangling her stepdaughter and trying to hide her in his house.
Meanwhile, Pardas was produced in Queens Criminal Court and formally charged before Judge Gerald Beibovitz with murdering Ashdeep Kaur.
“This is a horrifying case of a child- a defenceless 9-year-old who was left in the care of her stepmother, who allegedly strangled her to death, Her actions, if true, are beyond comprehension and must be severely punished, ” Ron Brown, the top public prosecutor for the New York City district of Queens said in a statement.
The New York Daily News repored that Pardas’ lawyer Judah Maltz asked the judge to place her in a protective custody because New York Jails are notorious for brutal attacks by fellow inmates on those accused of heinous crimes, especially those involving children.
Ashdeep’s relatives said the young girl had been previously allegedly abused by Pardas, who had been entrusted with her care while Singh worked in a local restaurant.
“She always told me she does not like to be with her stepmother. Sometimes she got beatings from her,” Ashdeep’s uncle Manjinder Singh was quoted by the New York Daily News.
According to the News, the assistant prosecutor Michael Curtis revealed to the court that on Tuesday Pardas had told Kaur’s father, Sukhjinder Singh that she would kill the child.
She had “repeatedly and on numerous occasions threatened to kill the victim, on Friday she made good on this threat”, Curtis said. He also added that circumstantial evidence that Pardas killed the child is “overwhelming”.
Relatives said that, Ashdeep’s mother, who is divorced from Sukhjinder Singh and lives in India was devastated by the news.
Narayan, who is 65 years old, was seen by a witness leaving Singh’s house in Richmond Hill around 5.30 p.m. on Friday Pardas and two of her grand children.
When detectives went to Narayan’s house in South Ozone Park he kept them at bay for over an hour refusing to come out or letting them in, before relenting and coming out. Both of them were then arrested.
Narayan is charged with “obstructing government administration” and faces a year prison if convicted. Pardas faces 25 years to life in prison.
Last month, 35-year-old Sheetal Ranot of Ozone Park was convicted of slashing her 12-year-old stepdaughter with a broken metal broom handle and cutting her left wrist to the bone