MANASSAS, Va. — Prosecutors in the murder trial of Naresh Bhatt called their last witnesses on Monday, closing five weeks of testimony in the case of his missing wife, Mamta Kafle Bhatt, according to WJLA.
The Commonwealth confirmed it had called all of its witnesses on the trial’s 15th day in Prince William County Circuit Court. Court is dark Tuesday for Election Day, and the defense opens its case on Wednesday.
His plea to all three charges — first-degree murder, concealing a dead body and defiling a dead body — was not guilty. Kafle Bhatt, 28, a nurse and mother, was last seen in late July 2024. Her body has never been found.
Friend says Bhatt handed her the jewelry
Mandira Shrestha, a longtime friend of Bhatt, testified that in the days after Kafle Bhatt went missing, he gave her his wife’s gold jewelry, including rings and chains, along with his own wedding ring.
Bhatt told her his mother wanted the items kept somewhere safe because many people were coming in and out of the home, Shrestha said. If Kafle Bhatt came back, the jewelry was to go back to her; if she did not, it was to go to his mother, she said.
Shrestha testified she had known Bhatt for years, from when she worked at a 7-Eleven and he worked in pest control, and that he stayed at her home over holidays during his military service. She was the one who introduced him to Kafle Bhatt, she testified.
On Aug. 20, 2024, at the couple’s baby’s first birthday celebration, Shrestha asked Bhatt whether he had done anything to Mamta. “I asked him, ‘Did he do anything with Mamta?’ And he replied, saying, ‘Do you think I will do something to her?'” she testified.
She handed the jewelry over to police on Aug. 27, 2024, she said. She also testified that around March 10, 2024, Kafle Bhatt had asked whether she could move in with her, and that it was not possible.
Brother: ‘I am not safe’
Kafle Bhatt’s brother, Mahesh Kafle, testified Monday afternoon that he had told his sister not to marry Bhatt. He said she once sent him a photograph with the message, “Please save this; might need in the future.”
Kafle told jurors his sister said to him, “I am not safe.” The defense objected to the statement, but the judge overruled the objection, agreeing with prosecutors that it showed her state of mind.
He said he and his sister had discussed divorce, and that divorce does not look good in Nepali society. When he later asked Bhatt where his sister was, Bhatt answered, “There are other people missing from our neighborhood as well. I don’t know where she was missed or she was lost.”
Babida Bhandari, a close friend of Kafle Bhatt who now lives in Texas, testified that Kafle Bhatt would never have come to Texas to stay with her. She said Bhatt never reached out to her after his wife went missing.
Blood, DNA and the Tesla
Susan Greenspoon, a forensic scientist with the Virginia Department of Forensic Science, testified about DNA taken from a stained section of carpet in the couple’s home. The mixture strongly supported Kafle Bhatt and her daughter as contributors, she said, and the test was inconclusive as to Bhatt. She could not say when or how the DNA was deposited.
Bloodstain analyst Iris Dalley Graff testified that patterns on the bedroom carpet were consistent with something bearing blood being moved across it toward the bathroom. Droplet stains on a bathroom window frame could have been cast off a moving, blood-covered object such as a knife or a reciprocating saw, she said.
Under cross-examination, Graff acknowledged she never visited the home and worked from photographs, reports and a 3D scan gathered by investigators. “The patterns are what they are,” she said on redirect. “Doesn’t matter who asked me to look at it. This is what I see.”
James Gill, a CarMax manager, testified that the blue Tesla Bhatt sold in the days after his wife disappeared went through the company’s full chemical cleaning before police called about it. “The car made it all the way through the process,” he said.
Over five weeks, jurors have also heard testimony about a power saw that prosecutors say carried blood and hair. They have also heard about searches on Bhatt’s work account, including one asking how long it takes to get married after a spouse dies.
The jury was dismissed at 4:40 p.m., and lawyers stayed behind to argue motions. The defense will begin presenting its case when court resumes Wednesday.
Also Read: Bhatt Jury Hears Searches About Missing Spouse; Defense Questions Timing
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