Prosecutors used the later part of Thursday’s cross-examination to take Naresh Bhatt through his own admissions, one by one. Asked directly whether he killed his wife, Bhatt answered, “No, not even imagination.”
Moments earlier, Deputy Commonwealth’s Attorney Matthew Sweet had asked him, “Did you conceal the dead body of your wife?” Bhatt answered, “Yes.” He admitted concealing and defiling Mamta Kafle Bhatt’s body after he says he found her dead, and he called hiding her body the biggest mistake and the biggest regret of his life. He said he regretted not calling 911 and lying to everyone about it. Asked whether he would change things, he said, “Absolutely.”
“No, not even imagination.”
— Naresh Bhatt, asked on cross-examination whether he killed his wife
Sweet then worked through the names. He asked Bhatt about lying to Mamta’s mother, Gita Kafle; to her brother Mahesh; to her friend Sarita Nupani; to Officer Pellet; to Detective Claudia Ventura; to Sunita Bhandari in New York; to journalist Sachi Manali; to his tenant Pitambar Mukhiya; to the babysitter, Amanda; and to Nadia Navarro. To most of the names, Bhatt answered “Yes” or said he did not remember.
Sweet also played the jury a clip of Bhatt’s live interview with a Nepali journalist, in which Bhatt had insisted that he never lies, and set it against the admissions he was making on the stand.
The questioning turned to how Bhatt had treated his wife. “She loved you always,” Sweet said. “You stopped loving her, right?” And on what Bhatt did with her body: “You stuffed her into a trash can.” “You chopped her up to make her fit.”
Sweet also pressed Bhatt on searches found on his devices, among them a search asking how long someone should wait to remarry after a spouse dies. Bhatt said he did not remember making the searches and claimed his phone had been hacked.
Bhatt also said on Thursday that none of the bags seen in surveillance footage of him at dumpsters contained Mamta’s remains. The bags held her personal belongings, he said.
Sweet challenged Bhatt with testimony from one of Mamta’s friends, who said Bhatt had spoken of the couple’s baby going into foster care — the opposite of Bhatt’s claim that he filed paperwork to keep his daughter.
Bhatt was still on the witness stand when court adjourned on Thursday, and his cross-examination is expected to continue on Monday. He has pleaded not guilty to first-degree murder, concealing a dead body and defiling a dead body. Mamta, a 28-year-old nurse, was reported missing on Aug. 5, 2024. Her body has never been found.
Information in this article is based on court proceedings and videos circulated online by multiple media outlets.
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
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