Husband of missing Virginia nurse Mamta Kafle charged with murder

A Virginia man whose 28-year-old wife disappeared over the summer has been charged with murder and will go on trial next September, a judge ruled Wednesday.

Naresh Bhatt, who had previously campaigned for the safe return of his missing wife Mamta Kafle Bhatt, was arrested in late August, just weeks after her disappearance.

Bhatt was initially charged only with hiding a body, although law enforcement had long suspected he killed his wife, a pediatric nurse and mother of their 1-year-old daughter.

The 37-year-old former Fairfax County police recruit has since been charged with first-degree murder and physical abuse of a corpse.

While Kafle Bhatt’s body still has not been found, investigators said earlier this week that blood found in the couple’s bedroom and bathroom matched the victim’s DNA.

“From the beginning, we believed she was murdered … based on the crime scene,” Manassas Park Police Chief Mario Lugo said at a news conference Monday, according to CNN.

Lugo told local broadcaster WUSA that police believe Kafle Bhatt was killed sometime between the night of July 29 and the morning of July 30. Investigators said they had reason to believe her body had been dismembered, with Lugo noting it was “one of the worst crime scenes they had ever seen.”

Bhatt, who has been in custody since his arrest in August, appeared in court on Wednesday where he waived his right to a speedy trial.

His trial on charges of hiding a body was due to begin next week. A new trial, in which all charges have been consolidated, is now scheduled to begin on September 8 and is expected to last four weeks.

“He shook his head and finally I think he realized it was a murder,” Pravada Deuja, a supporter of the victim, told DC News Now about Bhatt’s court appearance. “I don’t know if he had communicated with his lawyer at that moment or not, but that’s the mood we all had.”

With News Wire Services