QUEENS — The stepmother of a 9-year-old girl found strangled in the bathroom of her Queens home was arrested and charged in connection with the girl's death Saturday, police said.
Ashdeep Kaur, 9, was found dead and laying in an empty bathtub inside her family's first-floor Richmond Hill apartment around 6 p.m. Friday, the NYPD said.
Police on Saturday arrested Ashdeep's stepmother, Shamdai Arjun, 55, after hours of questioning in the 102nd Precinct house. She was later charged, police said.
A spokeswoman for the city Medical Examiner on Sunday said the death was determined to be a homicide by strangulation.
On Saturday afternoon, Arjun was seen being escorted from the precinct in handcuffs and a white protective suit. Her clothes were being kept in the precinct as evidence, ABC News reported.
According to reports, a neighbor tried to gain entry to the shared bathroom of the 112th Street home, but it was locked, with no sounds coming from inside.
The young girl had only been in the country for a few months before losing her life, having just moved to Queens from India, police sources said.
