Manassas Park Man On Trial For Wife's Murder Admits To Dismembering Her Body On Stand

MANASSAS PARK, VA – A Manassas Park man on trial for his wife’s murder abruptly changed his position today and said during testimony that he had actually disposed of his wife’s body after finding her unresponsive.

Naresh Bhatt, 39, who is on trial for murder and other charges in connection with the disappearance of his wife, admitted on the stand for the first time that he had instead disposed of his wife’s body after finding her dead by suicide and panicking.

Bhatt is accused of murdering his wife, Mamta Kafle Bhatt, 28, in July 2024. Mamta Bhatt was last heard from on July 28, 2024. Her body has never been found. Bhatt was initially charged only with concealing a dead body; months later, murder charges were brought against him as well.

The couple has one young daughter.

Bhatt's explosive testimony

Bhatt’s trial began on Oct. 5; the defense rested its case on Monday. Bhatt first took the stand on Tuesday. He has pleaded not guilty to first-degree murder, concealing a dead body and defiling a dead body.

During his second day of testimony, Bhatt suddenly began relaying a very different version of events than the one he gave police officers in the summer of 2024. Until Thursday morning, Bhatt had said he did not know where his wife was and had no role in her disappearance.

Now, Bhatt now says he found his wife unresponsive in their master bedroom on July 30, 2024, in a pool of blood and vomit and was unable to revive her.

In response to questions from his defense attorney, Bhatt described attempting to revive his wife but failing. He said he then rushed his young daughter to her babysitter's house and returned home, contemplating suicide.

Bhatt said he considered attempting a kind of ceremonial burial of his wife, putting her in the Potomac River. He then explained how instead, he dismembered Mamta Kafle’s body and disposed of it in dumpsters around Northern Virginia.

Prior testimony in the trial

Throughout October, the prosecution aired multiple videos of Bhatt dropping off what appeared to be bags of trash in the days after his wife’s disappearance, sometimes wearing gloves. A lawn care worker also testified that Bhatt had given him a saw under strange circumstances. The worker said when he later learned Bhatt was accused of murder, he brought the saw to police.

In his first day of testimony, Bhatt testified that he and Mamta Kafle had had a happy marriage in their first years together and denied ever abusing her. He also responded to an incident in which his wife called 911 during a domestic dispute in February 2024. Bhatt became angry and sarcastic and filmed his wife as she spoke to emergency responders on the phone. Mamta Kafle told the 911 operator that her husband had taken all her documents.

According to reporting by ABC 7, this morning, Bhatt reiterated that he had never abused Mamta Kafle and never been unfaithful in their marriage, before his defense attorney turned to "the time frame that brings us ... here in this trial."

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