MURDER CHARGES
Woman indicted for death of her mother-in-law
EAST WINDSOR >> An East Windsor woman has been indicted for allegedly bludgeoning her elderly motherin-law to death earlier this year, prosecutors said.
Tasneem Diwan, 46, charged with counts of murder and weapons possession, remains locked up at the county jail on $1 million, accused with killing 73-year-old Safia Diwan.
Authorities responded to the home after Safia Diwan’s son found his mother laying in a pool of her blood in the office of their home, according to prosecutors and a 911 tape obtained by The Trentonian.
Tasneem Diwan was arrested three days later at a bus terminal near the Tropicana Casino in Atlantic City and was detained by security officers and Atlantic City police, prosecutors have said.
Detectives interrogated her and learned she bludgeoned her mother-in-law to death with an unknown object inside their Mozart Court home, prosecutors said.
Assistant Prosecutor Skylar Weissman, who presented the case to the grand jury, said Tasneem Diwan gave a “detailed” video statement about her involvement in her motherin-law’s death but he revealed little else about the murder at a bail hearing earlier this year.
Despite a full-courtpress interrogation of the 46-year-old woman, investigators were unable to unravel a motive. Prosecutors said there was no money missing from the elderly woman’s bank accounts.
Safia Diwan had been dead for hours, prosecutors said, indicating rigor mortis had set in by the time the woman’s son found her. Tasneem Diwan was not home when Safia’s body was found and her green 2000 Nissan Quest Minivan was not parked outside.
Safia had been struck multiple times in the head, and an autopsy later concluded her manner of death as blunt force trauma to the head, authorities said.
“My wife is supposed to be here, but she’s not here, and she’s not answering her phone,” her husband told the emergency dispatcher, according to the 911 tape. “I don’t know where she is.”