55-year-old Indian origin woman, Shamdai Arjun Pardas has been charged with murder of her 9-year-old stepdaughter, Ashdeep Kaur in New York, US.
Little Ashdeep Kaur was strangled, authorities say, and was found dead in a bathtub in her house in Queens, New York.
On Sunday, Pardas was produced in Queens Criminal Court and charged formally before a judge.
Shamdai Arjun charged with murdering her 9 year-old stepdaughter in Richmond Hill. Girl was strangled, found in tub. pic.twitter.com/1Jv3GHJUkL — CeFaan Kim (@CeFaanKim) August 21, 2016
Public Prosecutor for New York City District of Queens, Ron Brown told the court, “This is a horrifying case of a child, a defenceless nine-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.”
In a statement earlier, Brown revealed that Pardas’s 65-year-old ex-husband Raymond Narayan was also arrested for helping her hide in his house and obstructing police from arresting her. He has been held on the charges of obstructing governmental administration.
Assistant Prosecutor, Michael Curtis, made new revelations in the court. He told the court that just few days before Ashdeep was found dead, Pardas told Ashdeep’s father, Sukhjinder Singh that she would kill the child.
ABC 7 reported that Curtis told the court that Pardas had “repeatedly and on numerous occasions threatened to kill the victim. On Friday, she made good on this threat.”
Curtis told the court that circumstantial evidence that Pardas killed the child is “overwhelming”.
Meanwhile, Pardas has denied killing the child and mentioned there was no proof that she had done it.
Source: Newyork Post
Her lawyer, Judah Maltz asked the judge to place her in protective custody in jail as they wanted to keep her away from other prisoners who may attack her.
Pardas was seen wearing a white plastic suit and was crying as she left the court.
An autopsy has been scheduled to determine Ashdeep’s cause of death.
