The Manassas Park husband is expected to go on trial next year for the alleged murder

MANASSAS, Va. – New charges against a Manassas Park man accused of murdering his wife are changing the timeline for when he could go to trial.

On Monday, a grand jury handed up two indictments against Naresh Bhatt, charging him with first-degree murder and physical defilement of a dead human body. He was already facing a single felony count of hiding a body for the disappearance of his wife, Mamta Kafle Bhatt.

Naresh Bhatt was scheduled to appear in Prince William County Court Tuesday morning for an arraignment on the new charges. The arraignment hearing was postponed until Wednesday because a Nepali interpreter was not available for Naresh Bhatt, who had used the service throughout his trial.

A preliminary hearing had already been scheduled for Wednesday as Naresh Bhatt was scheduled to appear in court next week on the first charge filed after his arrest in August.

Prince William County Commonwealth’s Attorney Amy Ashworth told reporters in the courtroom that the three charges may be consolidated into a single trial scheduled for next year.

On Wednesday, WUSA9 learned the trial is scheduled to begin Sept. 8, 2025. It will last 16 business days and end on October 3rd.

A status hearing is scheduled for March 20, 2025, with the preliminary hearing beginning August 27, 2025.

Naresh Bhatt’s case moved quickly, thanks in part to his public defender’s efforts to expedite the trial as investigators were still awaiting evidence.

According to Manassas Park Police Chief Mario Lugo, it was the evidence found in the couple’s home that led to the harsher charges.

“All I know is that whatever happened in that house was murder,” Lugo said during a news conference Monday evening. Lugo said DNA testing revealed that blood found in the Manassas Park home belonged to the 28-year-old mother and nurse.

Those who knew Mamta and domestic violence survivors who have been following this case had been waiting for more charges to be brought against Naresh Bhatt, but now they are finding it difficult to process the gruesome details of what is allegedly happening in the house is.

Bina Khadkalama, a Nepalese nurse who helped with the search efforts, told reporters: “I just imagine what she went through. What happened to her soul and her body. When the boss said that yesterday, you know, defiling, I was just like, “I imagine the knife piercing my body.

Mamta’s former colleague Holy Wirth said it was still difficult to get the details of the investigation from Chief Lugo.

“That’s really hard to hear, and so we definitely ask for prayers for the family, knowing that this is a moment of reckoning that we had hoped would come, but now that it’s here , it comes with a lot of emotions,” she said.

The public defender representing Naresh Bhatt has argued in the past that he will act as if Mamta was still alive because her body has not been found. He suspected that she might have left home.

Naresh Bhatt is due back in Prince William County Court on Wednesday morning.