It’s been just over two years since Mamta Kafle Bhatt, a Manassas Park, Virginia, mother and nurse, was last seen by her mother during a video chat. In about two months, her husband is scheduled to stand trial on charges that he murdered her, defiled her body and hid her remains.
Naresh Bhatt appeared in Prince William County Circuit Court on Thursday for a hearing that focused on trial procedures rather than the evidence that’s expected to be presented to a jury. Mamta Kafle Bhatt was last seen on July 29, 2024, in a video call.
Naresh Bhatt was indicted in December 2024 on charges of first-degree murder and defiling a dead body. He was also charged, but not indicted, with concealing a dead body.
Jury selection is scheduled to begin Oct. 6 for what is expected to be a seven-week trial.
During Thursday’s motions hearing, Naresh Bhatt, dressed in an orange prison jumpsuit, sat between his two public defenders and a Nepalese interpreter.
Judge Kimberly Irving denied a request from the prosecution to send a questionnaire to potential jurors as a way to streamline the jury selection process by advising them the trial would last almost two months.
The judge agreed with the defense that Prince William County residents who received the questionnaire would be more likely to research the case before reporting for jury duty.
Irving also rejected a request to permit audio recordings of the proceedings.
Court records show prosecutors have subpoenaed forensic specialists, blood-spatter experts and mapping analysts among their witnesses. Prosecutors said those expert witnesses will help jurors understand evidence they say tracks Naresh Bhatt’s movements and actions before his wife disappeared.
Prosecutors have suggested that Naresh Bhatt killed his wife in their Manassas Park home, dismembered her body with a power saw and disposed of her remains in several garbage bags left in area dumpsters.
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