Details in this report are disturbing.
Testimony continues Thursday in the trial of a Northern Virginia man accused of killing his wife the mother of their young daughter, Mamta Bhatt.
Although Mamta Bhatt’s body has never been found since she disappeared from their home in Manassas Park in July 2024, prosecutors say evidence proves that Naresh Bhatt murdered and dismembered her body.
They argue she wouldn’t have left home and purposely disappeared a couple of weeks before her daughter’s first birthday.
Mamta’s mother, Gita Kafle, became emotional when asked how often she used to speak to her daughter.
“A daily basis, like, morning and evening,” she said on the witness stand via an interpreter. She was visibly upset and wiped her eyes with a tissue throughout her testimony.
Kafle said calls with her daughter suddenly stopped one day in July 2024. She testified she tried calling Naresh after not being able to reach Mamta for a couple of days, but that Naresh didn’t pick up.
When he finally spoke with her a few days later, Naresh told her that Mamta had gone to stay with friends, Kafle said.
Kafle moved to Northern Virginia from Nepal after her daughter’s disappearance to help with the search and to try to find answers.
Friend testifies Naresh Bhatt abused and controlled Mamta
Another key witness for the prosecution Thursday was Sarita Neupane, who was a close friend to Mamta.
Four months before Mamta disappeared, Neupane said she saw Mamta walking outside while crying hysterically. She said she asked her what happened and brought her inside her home.
Mamta then stayed with Neupane for nearly two weeks while her and Naresh fought, the family friend said.
Neupane testified that in the months before Mamta’s disappearance Naresh was abusive and hit her. She said Mamta had to reschedule their baby girl’s rice ceremony, a tradition in Hindu culture to celebrate a baby’s first consumption of solid food, because she had a large bruise on her face.
Neupane said the bruise was the result of Naresh hitting Mamta during a fight because he claimed she wasn’t cleaning the house.
Naresh was also controlling, Neupane said, and allegedly shut off Mamta’s cellphone, blocked her access to money and wouldn’t allow her to drive his car or get her own car.
She said she was trying to help Mamta get some independence by helping her set up her own bank account and start the process to become a U.S. citizen. Mamta was a green card holder.
Prosecution argues it has plenty of evidence
During opening statements Wednesday, prosecutor Matthew Sweet said Naresh Bhatt gave a saw to a landscaper who was working on a house in their neighborhood in an effort to get rid of evidence.
The landscaper later brought the saw to police after realizing Bhatt’s wife had disappeared, Sweet said. Investigators took samples from the saw, which matched Mamta Bhatt’s blood and DNA, he said.
The prosecution argued forensic evidence from the home, suspicious Google searches and Naresh Bhatt’s statements prove his guilt. But the defense told the jury they should focus on what they called gaps in the evidence.
“There is a sort of black hole at the time of Mamta Kafle’s disappearance and it’s a hole where evidence should be, a hole that the government will not be able to fill for you. They’re going to try to fill the gap with ideas and speculations and guesses, but not with actual fact. There will be things at the conclusion of the evidence that you just won’t know,” Naresh Bhatt’s attorney Tracey Lenox said.
Prosecutors have said they have video showing Naresh Bhatt dropping large, heavy-duty garbage bags into dumpsters and trash compactors throughout Northern Virginia. They believe Mamta Bhatt’s remains were in the bags.
Naresh Bhatt has maintained his innocence, pleading not guilty to first-degree murder, defiling a dead body and concealment of a dead body. He has changed attorneys over the past two years and tried to get his current public defender removed from his case as recently as last month.
He told the judge just before his arraignment that he’s not ready for trial and wants the judge to recuse herself. The judge denied his motion for recusal and said the trial is moving forward.
Video cameras are allowed in the courtroom, but live broadcasting and livestreaming are not.
The Bhatts’ daughter, who is now 3 years old, is being cared for by relatives.
