Naresh Bhatt Says He Found His Wife Dead and Denies Killing Her

Naresh Bhatt took the stand in his own murder trial on Thursday and told a Prince William County court that he did not kill his wife. Bhatt testified that he found Mamta Kafle Bhatt dead in their Manassas Park home in the early hours of July 30, 2024, and believed she had taken her own life, InsideNoVa reported, in coverage carried by Potomac Local on Thursday.

Bhatt, 39, is charged with first degree murder, concealment of a dead body and physical defilement of a dead body. He has pleaded not guilty. Mamta Kafle Bhatt, a 28 year old nurse and the mother of the couple's young daughter, was last heard from on July 29, 2024. Her body has never been found.

What Bhatt told the court

Testifying on day 17 of his trial, Bhatt said he found his wife unconscious beside vomit, pesticides and pills, and tried to revive her, InsideNoVa reported. He said he then panicked. He testified that he first tried to hide the body, looked for a way to take it to the Potomac River, and later cut up the body with a saw and disposed of the remains in trash bags, according to the courtroom reporting.

That is an admission, in his own testimony, to concealing and disposing of a body. It is not an admission to murder, and Bhatt denied killing his wife. His claim that she died by suicide is his account. No body has been recovered, and no medical finding establishing suicide has been presented in the reporting of this trial. Prosecutors had not yet cross examined Bhatt when Thursday's reports were published.

Bhatt began testifying on Wednesday, November 4. Speaking through the defence, he described his childhood in India and Nepal, his move to the United States, and the couple's marriage, according to trial coverage. He is a Nepali born former US soldier, and Mamta was a Nepali born nurse. The case has been followed closely in Nepal and in the Nepali community in Virginia since her disappearance.

The case against him

Prosecutors rested their case on November 2 after more than 70 witnesses, Oxygen reported, including investigators, forensic scientists, family members and colleagues. A forensic scientist from Virginia's Department of Forensic Science testified that testing strongly indicated a large amount of blood found in the couple's main bedroom belonged to Mamta. A bloodstain pattern analyst told the court that parts of the bedroom carpet appeared to have been cleaned and that a blood bearing object or body may have been moved toward the bathroom.

Investigators testified that an electric saw Bhatt gave to the family's landscaper in the days after the disappearance carried hair and reddish brown stains, and prosecutors have said surveillance video shows Bhatt dropping large trash bags at dumpsters and trash compactors across Northern Virginia, Oxygen and Court TV coverage reported. The defence has questioned the timestamps on the videos and the reach of the forensic evidence.

Bhatt initially told police he last saw his wife at dinner, and he filed a missing person report on August 5, 2024, after her coworkers asked for a welfare check when she missed a shift at UVA Health Prince William Medical Center. He was arrested on August 22, 2024, and has been in custody since. His trial began in October 2026.

A charge is an accusation. Bhatt is presumed innocent unless the jury finds him guilty. His direct testimony is expected to continue before prosecutors cross examine him.