Dismemberment murder trial in Virginia: suspect testifies wife died by suicide
Naresh Bhatt, 39, admits cutting up his wife's body but denies killing her. The defense rested Monday in Manassas, Va., after Bhatt testified for a third time.
Bhatt takes stand for third time, claims wife took her own life
Naresh Bhatt, 39, returned to the witness stand Monday in a Manassas, Virginia courtroom for the third time, insisting to jurors that although he dismembered his wife's body, he did not kill her. Courthouse News Service reports that the defense rested its case later the same day, following testimony from both Bhatt and a clinical psychologist.
Bhatt is charged with murder, concealing a body and defiling a body in connection with the 2024 disappearance of Mamta Kafle Bhatt, 28, a nurse and mother of the couple's now 3-year-old daughter. He initially told investigators he had no idea where she had gone. He later changed his account, saying she died by suicide and that he panicked and disposed of her body for fear of repercussions.
"I feel like one way or the other, I was one of the factors leading to suicide," Bhatt said during Monday's testimony. "Out of many other factors, I'm one of the factors, despite mental health or postpartum, whatever."
Bhatt told the jury that on July 30, 2024, he discovered his wife's lifeless body on the bedroom floor in a pool of vomit, pills and poison. Rather than calling 911, he said he made unsuccessful attempts to revive her before deciding to cut up the body and discard it with the trash.
Describing the moment he found her, he said his body was "kind of shaking uncontrolled — like extreme pain or trauma."
Defense: PTSD and a traumatic past
Defense attorneys built their closing narrative around Bhatt's background — an impoverished childhood in Nepal and what he describes as a kidnapping and assault by Maoist rebels. Barry Rosenfeld, a clinical psychologist at Fordham University testifying as an expert witness, told the court that Bhatt has post-traumatic stress disorder and is not fabricating his mental health struggles.
"Panicking and not knowing what to do, that is not thinking clearly," Rosenfeld said. "It is not at all surprising from someone with post-traumatic stress disorder."
Prosecution pushes back
Prosecutors began presenting rebuttal witnesses late Monday. Among them was Gita Kafle, the victim's mother, who testified through an interpreter. She rejected the suicide theory outright.
"As much as she could, she would work," Gita Kafle said of her daughter, "and survive."
The case now moves toward closing arguments, with jurors left to weigh Bhatt's account of a panicked response to an accidental death against the prosecution's contention that he murdered and dismembered his wife.
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If you are having thoughts of suicide, call or text 988, or call the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 1-800-273-8255. Visit SpeakingOfSuicide.com/resources for additional resources.
Source: Courthouse News Service