MANASSAS, Va. — The defense rested its case Monday afternoon in the murder trial of Naresh Bhatt, closing a defense built largely on Bhatt’s own claim that his wife died by suicide and moving the trial toward a prosecution rebuttal and closing arguments, Law&Crime Trials reported.
The rest came after Bhatt finished his re-direct testimony Monday morning and the defense’s last witness, clinical psychologist Dr. Barry Rosenfeld, left the stand. Prosecutors said they would call more witnesses in rebuttal before the case moves to closing arguments.
The defense case rested on just two witnesses: Bhatt himself and Rosenfeld. On re-direct Monday, Bhatt told jurors he was shaking uncontrollably when he found Mamta Kafle Bhatt dead and conceded he was “one of the factors” in what he claims was her suicide, alongside “mental health or postpartum” issues. “I wasn’t treating her emotionally well,” he admitted, and when his attorney asked whether he regretted it, he said: “A lot.”
Over three days of testimony, Bhatt said he found his wife dead on the morning of July 30, 2024. He described trying CPR for 45 minutes — he never called 911 — before panic took over: he dismembered her body with a reciprocating saw and put her remains in the trash. He admitted concealing her body and lying to her family, her friends and police — but denied killing her: “No, not even imagination.”
Rosenfeld diagnosed Bhatt with post-traumatic stress disorder rooted in his childhood in Nepal. He testified that the panic Bhatt described was consistent with PTSD, but the planning and disposal that followed were not — and that Bhatt was not dissociating as he dismembered her, noting that cutting up a body takes a long period of time. On cross-examination, Rosenfeld confirmed that the account Bhatt gave him before the trial described pills, possibly Flexon, an ibuprofen and paracetamol tablet, and never mentioned the pesticide Celphos or any open packet. On the stand, Bhatt had testified he found Celphos near her body. Judge Kimberly Irving also denied a defense request on Monday to call Bhatt’s first attorney as a witness.
Prosecutors rested their own case on November 2 after calling more than 70 witnesses. Their evidence included blood found in the couple’s home, DNA evidence linked to the saw, Bhatt’s internet searches and his shifting accounts of his wife’s disappearance. Mamta’s remains have never been found, and no one other than Bhatt has presented a suicide account to the jury.
What remains is the rebuttal case, then closing arguments. In a session without the jury on Friday, Judge Irving ruled that jurors will be allowed to consider second-degree murder as well as the first-degree murder charge prosecutors sought. The charges against Bhatt, 39, of Manassas Park, are first-degree murder, concealing a dead body and defiling a dead body. His plea to all three charges is not guilty, and he has remained in custody since his arrest on August 22, 2024. Unless the Commonwealth proves the charges beyond a reasonable doubt, Bhatt remains presumed innocent.
Also Read: Bhatt Says He Was ‘One of the Factors’ in Mamta’s Suicide
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’
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