Naresh Bhatt found guilty of first-degree murder after admitting to dismembering wife Mamta Kafle; could get 20 years to life

Naresh Bhatt, on November 10, was found guilty of murdering his wife Mamta Kafle. Jurors in Virginia found him guilty of first-degree murder though Bhatt had claimed his wife died by suicide, even after he admitted on stand that he'd dismembered her body.

Naresh Bhatt admitted to using a saw to cut up his wife's body. (X/@cathyrusson)Bhatt was also found guilty of defiling and concealing Kafle's body, NBC Washington reported. The verdict which came on Tuesday followed six weeks of testimony from several witnesses.

Ahead of the jury deliberation, a legal expert had noted that they would either swing towards a first-degree charge or towards an acquittal, after it was reported that jurors had been instructed to consider a second-degree charge as well.

During closing arguments, prosecution told the jury not to believe Bhatt's “made up crazy story”. He had claimed to have found his wife dead, surrounded by vomit, blood and an open packet of a fatally poisonous pesticide.

However, WUSA 9 reported that this account was wildly different from what Bhatt had said in 2024. At the time, he'd reportedly said he last saw her on July 31, the day after she died. Bhatt had also said he had no idea where she was, as per the report.

Bhatt's accounts differed where he's once said he had an argument with his wife before she apparently left. However, he had changed his version when speaking to cops, saying they had had a normal night. Also Read | Rony Alexander Gomez-Alberto, accused of United Airlines flight hijack scare, is illegal immigrant from Honduras On stand, Bhatt even suggested that finding Kafle dead had triggered his PTSD.

He claimed that he then began to dismember her in a state of mind that Bhatt was not fully in control of. Senior Assistant Commonwealth's Attorney Sarah Sami said, “The defendant murdered Mamta Kafle, the defendant dismembered Mamta Kafle and the defendant got rid of her like garbage.” Sami added, “He gave her a final resting place of the landfill in Luray, Virginia.

Mamta will always be missing for that family there. Always be missing. We know she’s dead, but she is missing because they will never be able to give her her last rights. She’s in pieces, crushed in some landfill somewhere.

That is what this family will have to live with.” Bhatt's sentencing hearing is in March 2027. He could get a minimum of 20 years in jail and a maximum of life in prison for the first-degree murder conviction. The convictions of concealing and defiling a body each have five-year sentences.

Shuvrajit has over seven years of experience covering US, India, and world news. An English Literature postgraduate from Jadavpur University, Shuvrajit started off covering entertainment, gaming and all things pop culture.

There were brief periods away from the media industry, with short stints in content marketing, ed-tech and academic editing. However, the newsroom beckoned and over the last few jobs, Shuvrajit has exceedingly focused on team functioning as well, including tracking news and assigning tasks, working on everyday breaking news, framing detailed coverage plans, and creating immersive and data-driven stories.

In his time as a digital journalist, he has covered a Lok Sabha election, multiple state elections, Union Budgets and award ceremonies. He has also helped in planning content for company event panels in the past. For work, Shuvrajit enjoys dabbling with data visualization, editing tools, and AI chatbots and attempts to incorporate AI workflows in everyday tasks.

He is deeply interested in geopolitics, sports, films and music. Prompting is a new fascination for Shuvrajit now. Apart from that, he can be found doom-scrolling, sharing memes, or cheering on his favorite football team.Read More