Naresh Bhatt’s murder trial continued Monday after prosecutors last week showed jurors carpet removed from the bedroom he shared with his wife, Mamta Kafle Bhatt, FOX 5 reported.
Prince William County police investigator Joseph Restino, helped by prosecutors, unrolled a section measuring about 8 by 10 feet. He testified that he cut it from the primary bedroom of the couple’s home.
Jurors also saw photographs of a suspected bloodstain beneath the carpet. The area had reacted to Bluestar, a chemical reagent investigators used to look for possible traces of blood, according to FOX 5’s account of the proceedings.
Bhatt is accused of killing and dismembering his wife, a pediatric nurse who was 28 when she disappeared. He faces charges of first-degree murder, concealing a dead body and defiling a dead body.
Concern about Mamta Kafle Bhatt’s whereabouts began after she missed her Aug. 1, 2024, shift at UVA Health Prince William Medical Center. Her co-workers requested a welfare check the next day after she missed a second consecutive shift.
At the couple’s Heather Court home, Bhatt told responding officers he had last seen his wife July 29 and did not believe she was missing. Family and friends disputed the suggestion that she had left voluntarily, saying she would not abandon her infant daughter.
Bhatt filed a missing persons report Aug. 5. He told an officer his wife had threatened to disappear and discussed a possible divorce, according to the reporting. Police initially had little information indicating she was in danger but designated her involuntarily missing that day.
Police arrested Bhatt on Aug. 22, 2024, after investigators reported finding large bloodstains in the primary bedroom and bathroom. Court documents cited by FOX 5 also described a power saw containing hair fragments and evidence of visits to several trash disposal sites.
Bhatt has remained in custody since his arrest. Mamta Kafle Bhatt’s body has not been recovered.
Also Read: Mamta Bhatt’s Mother, Friend Testify in Naresh Bhatt Trial
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