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Naresh Bhatt will appear in Prince William Circuit Court on Friday asking to be released from jail as he awaits trial for concealing his wife’s dead body.
His defense attorneys this week filed a motion claiming Manassas Park police mishandled the original search of the Blooms Crossing home Bhatt shared with his wife, Mamta Kafle Bhatt, who disappeared at the end of July. The bond hearing is scheduled for 12:30 p.m.
Bhatt, 37, has been jailed since Aug. 22 in connection with the presumed death of Mamta Bhatt, a 28-year-old first-time mom and nurse at UVA Prince William Medical Center in Manassas. Mamta Bhatt was last heard from in late July and formally reported missing Aug. 5, days after police conducted a welfare check at their home.
Since Naresh Bhatt’s arrest, police have conducted numerous searches at the couple’s home, as well as area parks and other locations. Manassas Park Police Chief Mario Lugo said there have been more than 10 searches so far, and while detectives have found blood and other evidence indicating her death, they have not located Mamta Bhatt’s remains.
Naresh Bhatt’s defense team alleges Manassas Park police detectives used false statements to obtain the arrest warrant against him and have spread misinformation about Bhatt not wanting to report his wife missing, among other improprieties.
In the motion for bond, Bhatt’s defense alleges that the detective seeking the arrest warrant was told by a magistrate “to include details about the body being moved from the house” in the criminal complaint.
The detective’s supervisor later asked for evidence supporting the claim that Mamta Bhatt’s body was dragged out of the house, according to the court file.
The detective “acknowledged that she could only prove the body … had been dragged from one room to another within the house,” not dragged outside, the court file states.
“Without the false statement, no warrant would have been issued, and there is no probable cause to hold Mr. Bhatt on this charge, and he should be granted bond,” his defense attorney’s wrote.
Naresh Bhatt is set to stand trial beginning Dec. 9.
