Bhatt Says He Was ‘One of the Factors’ in Mamta’s Suicide

MANASSAS, Va. — Naresh Bhatt returned to the witness stand in his own defense on Monday, telling jurors he was shaking uncontrollably when he found his wife dead and conceding that he believes he was “one of the factors” in what he claims was her suicide.

On re-direct examination on Day 18 of his murder trial in Prince William County Circuit Court, Bhatt testified that his body was shaking when he found Mamta Kafle Bhatt and that “she was already gone” as he attempted CPR, FOX 5 DC reported. Questioned by his own attorney, he said he never stopped loving his wife but acknowledged he may have been one of the factors that led her to take her own life, alongside “mental health or postpartum” issues. “I wasn’t treating her emotionally well,” he admitted. Did he regret it? “A lot.”

Bhatt again denied ever physically harming her. He also testified that he later spoke with the couple’s young daughter about her mother’s death, telling the child her mother did not do a good thing.

His attorney, Tracey Lenox, also walked him through the internet search history prosecutors had pressed him on during cross-examination, including a search asking what happens to a spouse’s debts when they die and another Bhatt connected to a friend who died in a motorcycle crash in Seattle.

The defense then called Dr. Barry Rosenfeld, a clinical psychologist. Rosenfeld had evaluated Bhatt twice before the trial, on September 4 and October 2 — roughly eight hours of interviews — and had reviewed his psychological testing and records. His diagnosis: post-traumatic stress disorder, rooted in Nepal. Bhatt, he testified, saw his aunt set herself on fire as a boy. As a teenager he was twice held captive by Maoist rebels, who he said physically and sexually abused him. He blamed himself for his younger brother’s disappearance, too; the boy was lost for five years. The symptoms Rosenfeld described were nightmares, flashbacks, trouble sleeping, jumpiness and deep guilt. Bhatt had also passed three tests built to catch people faking symptoms; his results, Rosenfeld said, were consistent with genuine PTSD.

But the expert drew limits around what his diagnosis could explain. Bhatt had told him the same account he gave the jury: that he found Mamta dead, tried CPR, panicked and decided to dispose of her body. Rosenfeld said the panic was consistent with PTSD — but the planning that followed was not, and Bhatt was not dissociating while he dismembered her, noting that cutting up a body takes a long period of time. He also said he could not determine whether Bhatt’s account of that day is true; that, he said, is for the jury to decide.

On cross-examination, prosecutor Matthew Sweet pressed Rosenfeld on what Bhatt had told him about the morning Mamta died. Rosenfeld confirmed that in that account, Bhatt described pills — up to ten of them, in two colors, possibly Flexon, an ibuprofen and paracetamol tablet — and made no mention of the pesticide Celphos, of any poison, or of an open packet beside her. On the witness stand last week, Bhatt had testified that he found Celphos near her body.

Judge Kimberly Irving also denied a defense request to call Bhatt’s first attorney, who the defense said heard Bhatt admit back in 2024 that he had found his wife dead and dismembered her body, WUSA9 reported.

Bhatt, 39, of Manassas Park, is charged with first-degree murder, concealing a dead body and defiling a dead body in the disappearance of his wife, a 28-year-old nurse at UVA Health Prince William Medical Center whose remains have never been found. He has pleaded not guilty to all three charges and has been in custody since his arrest on August 22, 2024. Prosecutors rested on November 2 after calling more than 70 witnesses. Last week, Bhatt admitted on the stand that he dismembered his wife’s body and put her remains in the trash, and under cross-examination he admitted lying to her family, her friends and the police and concealing her body — while denying that he killed her: “No, not even imagination.”

On Friday, in a session without the jury, Judge Irving ruled that the jury will be allowed to consider second-degree murder as well as first-degree murder. The defense was expected to rest after Rosenfeld’s testimony, with prosecutors able to call a rebuttal witness before closing arguments send the case to the jury. Bhatt is presumed innocent unless the Commonwealth proves the charges beyond a reasonable doubt.

Also Read: ‘No, Not Even Imagination’: Bhatt Denies Killing Mamta on Cross

Also Read: Bhatt Admits Lying as Cross-Examination Opens: ‘You’re a Liar’

Also Read: Naresh Bhatt’s Bombshell Testimony: Says Mamta Died by Suicide and Admits He Dismembered Her Body