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The trial of the husband of missing Mamta Kafle Bhatt, last seen almost a year ago, was supposed to start in September — now a spokesperson says her family is “profoundly disappointed” that Prince William County, Virginia, prosecutors didn’t do more to prevent the trial from being delayed until October 2026.
“While I think we expected there to be a continuance, we did not expect the continuance to be this far out — we’re talking 14 months,” said Holly Wirth, spokesperson for Mamta Kafle Bhatt’s family.
Naresh Bhatt was indicted in December on charges of murder and physically defiling a dead body. Bhatt was initially charged in August with concealing the body of his 28-year-old wife, whose body still hasn’t been found.
Friday, Circuit Court Judge Kimberly Irving reluctantly granted a defense motion to postpone the trial. Jury selection is now scheduled to begin Oct. 5, 2026.
When public defender Shalev Ben-Avraham initially suggested delaying the trial until October of next year, the judge appeared incredulous.
“The fact is, it’s been a year,” Irving said. “Two years to get ready? It’s mind-blowing.”
Ben-Avraham said the public defender’s office has continued to receive discovery from prosecutors, including an estimated two terabytes of data. And, he had to prepare to examine 24 experts the prosecution expects to call.
Prosecutors Sarah Sami and Matthew Sweet said they were prepared for trial in September, but wanted to ensure that Bhatt got “the most fair trial,” and didn’t object to the defense motion.
After the judge, the prosecution and defense compared schedules, the judge granted the defense request, postponing the estimated seven-week trial until fall 2026.
Family spokesperson: ‘We feel quite defeated’
“It’s an understatement to say that this is a tremendous disappointment for the family,” Wirth said outside the courthouse.
For the first time, Mamta Kafle Bhatt’s family spokesperson publicly criticized prosecutors’ handling of the case.
“The defense filed a motion for continuance, and the Commonwealth did not oppose. And I think as a loved one, and family members of the victim, we feel quite defeated that the Commonwealth agreed so readily to this amount of a delay.”
While Ben-Avraham had told the judge he would be prepared to begin trial in July 2026, Sami and Sweet told the judge they had conflicts during summer 2026.
Wirth said the family was not pleased with how the Prince William County Commonwealth’s Attorney’s Office, led by Amy Ashworth, handled that scenario.
“When you have the defense saying, ‘We’re ready to go on trial in July,’ and the CA’s office is saying ‘Wait a minute, we need four more months on top of that,’ that makes me question what’s going on the CA’s office that they are not prepared to go to trial,” Wirth said.
“As a citizen of Prince William County and a resident of Manassas, I feel quite disappointed in the Commonwealth, and I really hope that Amy will take a look at her staff and hold them to a level of accountability,” Wirth said.
Ashworth was not available for comment on Friday, but a spokesperson for the commonwealth’s attorney’s office said they have confidence in their team and their preparation.
Wirth said Naresh Bhatt deserves due process, and that “justice delayed does not mean it’s not going to be served.”
And while the defense will now have extra time to go through evidence the prosecution could admit at trial, “For the life of me, I can’t imagine there’s going to be something that’s going to change the narrative of what we think happened at the Bhatt household on July 31.”
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