Indian origin stepmother charged with killing 9-year-old girl

Arjun is charged with second-degree murder and faces up to 25 years in prison if convicted, said Queens District Attorney Richard Brown.

Arjun Samdhi Pardas, the 55-year-old stepmom to Ashdeep Kaur, is accused of strangling the young girl who was in her care.

The Daily News (http://nydn.us/2bAsI5o ) reports that a neighbor discovered the body of Ashdeep Kaur at about 6 p.m. Friday in a bathtub without water. The eyewitness, who observed that the bathroom light had been on since 11:00 am, called the victim’s father and was instructed to break open the bathroom door at which time she observed the victim in the bathtub, Brown said.

A housemate had apparently seen Pardas take Ashdeep into the bathroom, and later come out alone.

When police showed up at Narayan’s house to find Pardas, she refused to come out, and they weren’t let in for more than an hour, officials said.

Preliminary witnesses and Ashdeep’s relatives said that Pardas used to abuse Ashdeep constantly. Her mother, who is divorced from her father, still lives in India.

Kaur’s 35-year-old father, Sukjinder Singh, was distraught and had to be helped to a auto after he visited the police station where Pardas was taken by police.

Ashdeep Kaur was found dead in her house’s bath tub on Friday, with police describing her death as “suspicious” after the body was found naked and with bruises.

Police sources said Ashdeep had just moved to Queens from India three months ago.

For the past three days, Ashdeep had stayed with her cousin’s family and didn’t want to go home to her stepmother, her family told NBC. “Sometimes she grabbed her, threw her on the bed”.

He added: ‘I see some scratching on her hand’.

The girl’s father rushed home from work when authorities contacted him.

Arjun was charged with murder, police said Saturday.

Ashdeep, who lived in South Richmond Hill with her father, Sukhjinder Singh and her stepmother, was pronounced dead at the scene by emergency responders.