Nepali American Naresh Bhatt Arrested in Connection to Disappearance of Wife Who’s Presumed Dead
- The 37-year-old of Manassas Park, Virginia, was charged with a felony charge of prohibition against concealment of a body, almost three weeks after Mamta Kafle Bhatt, 27, went missing.
Naresh Bhatt, a 37-year-old Nepali American man from Virginia has been arrested as a person of interest in connection with the disappearance of his wife Mamta Kafle Bhatt who is presumed dead. He was taken into custody on Aug. 22 morning from his home in Manassas Park and was charged with a felony charge of prohibition against concealment of a body, according to Virginia’s Attorney for Prince William County.
Bhatt has not been formally charged with murder, CNN reported, but court documents obtained by CNN affiliate WJLA show Bhatt is accused of killing his wife, citing evidence “in the residence indicating the body was inside the residence and dragged out of the residence.” He will continue to be held without bail. He is scheduled to appear in court for a bond hearing on Monday, Aug. 26.
Bhatt is a former US Army Reserve automated logistics specialist who served from June 2017 to February 2024, CNN reported, citing Army spokeswoman Heather Hagan. He has no deployments and left the Army in the rank of specialist, she told the news network.
Kafle Bhatt, 28, who worked as a pediatric nurse at the UVA Health Prince William Medical Center, was last seen on July 31, according to WTOP News. She was reported missing on Aug. 5, and the disappearance of the young mother led to an outpouring of community support.
The couple’s 1-year-old daughter Neema is safe and is currently in the care of someone approved by the Department of Social Services, Fox 5 DC reported. Meanwhile, a post on X by DC News Now reporter Tosin Fakile noted that Kafle Bhatt’s mother has been granted an emergency U.S. visa to take care of her granddaughter.
According to details of the investigation revealed during the arraignment, “investigators found what appeared to be blood pooling and blood splatter in the home’s main bedroom; the bed appeared to be moved, blocking a closet; and light pink stains were found on bedroom carpeting after the bed was removed,” WJLA reported. Additionally, pools of blood were found in the bathroom, and a number of the cleaning supplies Bhatt purchased were also found in the home, which appeared to be in disarray, according to WJLA.
Investigators also said Bhatt “made a number of inconsistent statements about his wife’s whereabouts,” WJLA reported, and claimed she destroyed her own cell phone before disappearing. Bhatt “sold his Tesla on Aug. 19, and the house appeared to be disheveled, with a suitcase packed, items missing from hangers,” WJLA reported.
The couple had been married for three years, Bhatt told WUSA news in an earlier interview before his arrest. Although she’s disappeared three times before, she had never been gone this long, Bhatt said. “I’m the one who is suffering,” he told WUSA. “She is my baby’s mom. She is my wife. I’m the one suffering, so I don’t know what I’m supposed to say.”
The investigation into Kafle Bhatt’s disappearance began on Aug. 2 when a co-worker called police to request a welfare check after she didn’t show up for her shift at the hospital. Police went to the home to conduct the check and spoke to Bhatt that day. But he reportedly told them that his wife was not missing. However, “three days later, he went back to police and filed a missing persons report,” the Fox 5 report said. When asked why he waited to report her missing, Bhatt told the media outlet he thought he was following the instructions given to him by the police, and that he “reported it once efforts to find her had been exhausted.”
Bhatt told WUSA that they ate on the evening of Wednesday (July 31), which was the last time he saw his wife. “She was the one who cooked and did the kitchen stuff,” he said. “We do not have any specific conversation. We do not have any argument or something like that.” He said he was “sad” at her disappearance as she “a special person for me because she’s caring and loving.”
Kafle Bhatt, last spoke to her former roommate Nadia Navarro on July 28, the same day she posted a final video on her TikTok account showing herself and her daughter, according to news reports. She told WUSA that was the “last heard she from her personally.” She said Kafle Bhatt called her a couple of times, but she was asleep. “And I got a call from someone I met at Mamta’s baby shower and she asked me if I knew where Mamta was.” She said her friend was an “impulsive person,” and is “a very responsible person, she’s a very calm person. So to hear that she might be missing, I really doubt she would run away.”
Friends who spoke to Fox5 described Kafle Bhatt as a “charming” and “kind-hearted” mother. “I don’t think she would leave her child and run away from the house,” Mala Sharma told the news channel.
A Facebook group named “Find Mamta Kafle Bhatt” organized by friends has been passing out flyers across town and has been planning for search parties to scour surrounding neighborhoods for her. They also opened a GoFundMe to raise money for search operations, including a billboard in Fairfax County, Virginia.
Holly Wirth, a former hospital co-worker of Kafle Bhatt, told WTOP News that Bhatt’s arrest was shocking. “Today, even before the charges came out, was a day of reckoning for me and our supporters to realize that we have to pivot away from necessarily bringing her home safe, to just bringing her home and shifting our efforts to supporting her daughter,” Wirth said. “And I anticipate that’s where the bulk of the work is going to go — fighting for justice for mom too instead of fighting to rescue her.”
Meanwhile, UVA Health Prince William Medical Center spokesperson Eric Swensen told CNN in a statement that “UVA Health is heartbroken to learn the devastating news that Mamta Kafle Bhatt is presumed deceased.”