Ex-Tenant Charged With Arson For Deadly Queens Village Fire

QUEENS VILLAGE, QUEENS — A former tenant was arrested Wednesday for setting the fire that killed a 63-year-old woman in her Queens Village home, police said.

Rampersaud Persaud faces murder and arson charges for starting the blaze that trapped his elderly housemate, identified by police as Bibi Jasmin.

Persaud, 49, had lived in the 219th Street home rent-free for months with his girlfriend, who was Jasmin's niece, the New York Daily News reported.

Jasmin told her daughter Persaud had been threatening and harassing her and asked the couple to leave by the end of August, according to the news outlet.

The fire broke out at Jasmin's home just after 11 p.m., according to police. Firefighters found her unconscious and unresponsive after extinguishing the blaze.

Relatives told NBC New York that Jasmin used a wheelchair and was likely trapped inside her home as the fire spread.