A Virginia man is accused of killing the mother of his children, then removing her from her home and hiding her body, according to court documents made public Friday.
U.S. Army veteran Naresh Bhatt, 37, allegedly Googled “How long does it take to get married after a spouse dies” in the months before pediatric nurse Mamta Kafle Bhatt, 28, was last seen on July 27, prosecutors said at her first court appearance Thursday.
According to The Washington Post, Bhatt faces allegations that he abused his wife, prosecutors said. When authorities searched his home in Manassas, Virginia, last week, they said they found a crime scene that suggested the woman had been murdered.
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US Army veteran Naresh Bhatt, 37, has been charged with concealing a corpse and has been jailed without bail. (Prince William-Manassas Regional Adult Detention Center)
“The amount of blood in the master bedroom and bathroom is indicative of injuries that cannot be healed,” Prince William County Prosecutor Sarah Sami said in court Thursday, the Post reported. “Everything in this case indicates that Mamta is no longer alive. And the state can bring a murder charge without a body.”
“The crime scene investigator at the scene indicated that she had never seen so much blood,” the prosecutor said.
Blood trails indicated “something was dragged” from the master bedroom to the bathroom in the couple's Manassas home, prosecutors said.
Bhatt has so far been charged with concealing a dead body; his wife's remains have yet to be located.
Shalev Ben-Avraham, the public defender representing Bhatt, has said his client's case has been moved forward prematurely without sufficient evidence. He repeatedly downplayed the amount of blood found in Bhatt's home, according to local outlet Inside Nova, calling it “minuscule” and saying it was “maybe a nosebleed.”
“This particular law requires that there be a dead body. What they have, to be clear, is blood,” Ben-Avraham said Thursday, the Post reported.[Bhatt] “They arrested him because there's a huge media frenzy. The Manassas Park police chief is under pressure to do something.”
“Blood is not a body part. Blood itself is not enough,” he continued. “I have no idea how the magistrate issued an arrest warrant. [Bhatt’s] detention.”
Ben-Avraham could not immediately be reached for comment.
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Manassas police conducted a welfare check after pediatric nurse Mamta Bhatt, 28, failed to show up for work at UVA Health Prince William Medical Center on Aug. 2. Her husband did not report her missing until Aug. 5. (Manassas Police Department)
Sami argued that the evidence against Bhatt was considerable and said more charges would be filed, citing the volume of blood in the couple's home and Bhatt's search history, which she said was provided to local police by the US Secret Service.
Although preliminary tests have concluded that the blood in the couple's home was of human origin, it has not yet been linked to the missing woman.
Earlier this month, prosecutors said Bhatt sold his Tesla, packed his bags and talked to others about selling his home after his wife disappeared. Bhatt’s attorney said his client had no intention of fleeing and that Bhatt was trying to make money to support the couple’s 1-year-old daughter.
Sami said Bhatt bought knives on July 30 — the last day Mamta Bhatt’s family heard from her — and also went to a Walmart in a neighboring county to buy Lysol and Febreze. When a search warrant was carried out at Bhatt’s home last week, a bottle of carpet cleaner that Bhatt had purchased on July 31 was found empty.
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Prosecutors said police had previously responded to Bhatt's home. (Manassas Police Department)
Prosecutors also cited previous police responses to Bhatt’s Heather Court home for domestic violence. In February, Manassas police were summoned to the home for “disorderly conduct”; at the time, Mamta Bhatt told police her husband “would not give her her documents and destroyed her phone,” prosecutors said.
One of the missing woman's friends reportedly told police that Mamta Bhatt was a victim of domestic abuse and “suffered bruises in the months leading up to” her disappearance, Inside Nova reported.
Bhatt was denied bail in Prince William County Juvenile and Domestic Affairs Court on Monday. A judge ruled that he posed a danger to the community and was a flight risk.
The disappearance of Mamta Bhatt, a nurse at UVA Health Prince William Medical Center, sparked multiple searches and captured the attention of the broader community.
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“What we heard was worse than we could have ever imagined,” friend Holly Wirth told the Washington Post after a hearing. “I don't think we were prepared for the picture we were given of what likely occurred in the master bedroom and master bathroom.”
Wirth told the Post that although she and a dozen other supporters in court had been “trying to respect [Mamta Bhatt’s] privacy,” she welcomed the domestic abuse allegations having been aired openly.
“We've all heard, seen and received text messages that we didn't want to share,” Wirth said. “But you know what? It's on the record now. She was abused. And in the future, we won't be afraid to call it by its name.”
