Indian girl found dead in US, step-mother charged with murder

From Yoshita Singh New York, Aug 21 (PTI) A nine-year-old Indian girl hasbeen found dead under mysterious circumstances in her househere with police charging her step-mother for the murder. Ashdeep Kaur had moved to Queens here from India justthree months ago and lived in an apartment with her fatherSukhjinder Singh and her stepmother Arjun Samdhi Pardas thatwas shared with another couple. Ashdeep was found dead in the bathtub of her home inQueens with bruises on her body. Pardas, 55 has been chargedwith murder for allegedly strangling Ashdeep on Friday, theNew York Post quoted sources as saying. The housemate had seen Ashdeep going in the bathroom withPardas, who later came out alone and left the building. She allegedly said that Ashdeep was taking a bath. When Ashdeep did not come out, the housemate checked anddiscovered her lifeless body in the bathtub that had no water. Pardas was nowhere to be found when Ashdeep body wasdiscovered. Police found her several hours later at anotherlocation in Queens and took her for questioning. Ashdeep’s relatives said the young girl had beenpreviously allegedly abused by Pardas, who had been entrustedwith her care while Singh worked in a local restaurant. "She always told me she does not like to be with herstepmother. Sometimes she got beatings from her," Ashdeep’suncle Manjinder Singh said in the report. "Sometimes she grabbed her, threw her on the bed. I’m notthinking she’s going to kill her." Mandinna Singh, a cousin of Kaur’s father, said of thegirl in a report in New York Daily News, "There was no water,but she was in the tub." The little one said she (the stepmom) sometimes beat her. Ashdeep’s mother, who lives in India, was devastated bythe news, relatives said. She and the girl’s father aredivorced. PTI YAS AMS ASKAMS