Bhatt maintains his wife died by suicide before he dismembered her
A jury in Manassas, Virginia, convicted Naresh Bhatt on Tuesday of first-degree murder in the death of his wife, Mamta Kafle Bhatt, and also convicted him of concealing a dead body and defiling a dead body. The 28-year-old will be sentenced in March and faces a life sentence.
The six-week trial centered on the conflict between Bhatt’s testimony that Mamta died by suicide and the prosecution’s case that he killed her and then concealed and dismembered her body. The jury returned guilty verdicts on all three counts.
Testifying in his own defense, Bhatt said the couple had argued and exchanged threats of divorce and suicide in the days before Mamta’s disappearance. He said he woke in July 2024 to find her dead from suicide in their bedroom and that she had used a pesticide.
Bhatt said he tried to revive Mamta but gave up. He then took their infant daughter to a babysitter before intending to return to the house and kill himself.
Instead, Bhatt said he went to Home Depot and Walmart to find “anything to hide a body.” Prosecutors said he bought knives and cleaning supplies. Court TV reported that he used knives and a saw to cut up Mamta’s body so it would fit in a garbage can.
Bhatt did not call 911. Asked by defense attorney Tracey Lenox why he made no emergency call, Bhatt said he was “really scared” and did not report Mamta missing for several days.
Jurors watched surveillance footage showing Bhatt tossing large items into dumpsters near their house. The jury also heard evidence that Bhatt made internet searches including “what happens if spouse disappears?” and how to “donate” a baby to a friend.
Prosecutors rejected Bhatt’s account, saying he insisted Mamta had died by suicide after he had cut up and hidden her body and then panicked because he thought he would be held responsible.
Sarah Sami, a senior assistant attorney for the Prince William County Commonwealth’s Attorney’s Office, told the court that Bhatt wanted the jury to believe his actions had no connection to Mamta’s death. “He wants you to believe now that even though he cut up Mamta’s body, even though he stuffed her in the garbage can, he had nothing to do with her death,” she said.
Sami called the defense account “ridiculous” and said: “Come on. That’s ridiculous. I’ll give it to him, he was a terrible husband. But Mamta did not commit suicide because he was a terrible husband.”
Sami also told jurors that Bhatt, who is from Nepal, was a controlling and obsessive husband who mistreated Mamta throughout their marriage and denied her access to their car and money. “The reality was Mamta lived in a house of terrors … a kingdom of torture where the king reigned,” she said.
Lenox urged the jury to acquit Bhatt of the concealment charge because his actions were not committed with malice.
Mamta’s mother, Gita Kafle, testified that her daughter would never have abandoned their child, now aged three.
Mario Lugo, chief of the Manassas Park police department, told a Washington, D.C., Fox 5 news affiliate last year that Mamta’s remains might never be found.
Bhatt will be sentenced in March, when he faces a life sentence. Holly Wirth, a friend and colleague of Mamta, said she was relieved that “the truth has come out.” She added: “He killed her. He defiled her. He threw her away like trash.”