Manassas (US): Naresh Bhatt, the Virginia man accused of murdering his wife Mamta Kafle Bhatt, has admitted in court that he dismembered her body and disposed of her remains, more than two years after repeatedly claiming he had no knowledge of her disappearance.

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Testifying in his first-degree murder trial last week, the 39-year-old said his wife had died by suicide. He told the jury that he found her unconscious in their bedroom, surrounded by vomit and blood, and panicked before dismembering and disposing of her body. However, he stopped short of admitting that he had killed her.

Bhatt’s testimony came nearly five weeks into the trial. He is facing charges of first-degree murder, concealing a dead body and defiling a dead body. If convicted of murder, he could face life imprisonment. The other two charges carry lesser penalties under Virginia law, WUSA reported.

For more than two years, Bhatt had maintained that he did not know what had happened to his wife. In his initial interactions with police and subsequent media interviews, he claimed that he had last seen her at the family dinner table, days before reporting her missing.

Bhatt was arrested at his home in Manassas, a suburb of Washington, DC, on August 22, 2024, around three weeks after Mamta was reported missing. He was initially charged with concealing a dead body. A criminal complaint filed at the time alleged that “on or about July 30, 2024, the accused, Naresh Bhatt, murdered his wife, Mamta Bhatt.”

He was not formally charged with murder at the time of his arrest. In December 2024, a Prince William County grand jury indicted him on charges of first-degree murder and defiling a dead body, adding to the existing charge of concealing a dead body.

Mamta Kafle Bhatt, 28, was last seen on July 27, 2024, at UVA Health Prince William Medical Center in Manassas, where she worked as a registered nurse in the medical-surgical unit, according to police and the hospital.

She spoke to a friend the following day, according to WUSA. She also posted a video on TikTok featuring herself and her infant daughter, WJLA reported.

Mamta disappeared weeks before her daughter's first birthday. Her sudden absence alarmed relatives and friends, who said she was devoted to the child.

Her disappearance triggered an extensive search, with friends and members of the local Nepalese community organising vigils and rallies to demand her safe return.