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Naresh Bhatt is charged with 'concealing a dead body', however, his wife remains missing.
MANASSAS PARK, Va. — So many questions continue to linger around the disappearance of Mamta Kafle Bhatt. The 28-year-old mother and nurse was reported missing by her husband, Naresh Bhatt, on Aug. 5, but is believed to have last been seen by anyone other than him on July 28.
Naresh Bhatt was arrested on Aug. 22 and has been held on no bond ever since. A judge ruled that there was “overwhelming evidence” to consider Naresh Bhatt a flight risk and danger to the community.
Naresh Bhatt's trial date on the charge of 'concealing a dead body' is scheduled for Dec. 9. However, he's expected back in court Thursday where a judge is expected to make a decision regarding a motion filed by Naresh Bhatt's attorney. That motion called for the court to "quash the arrest warrant"
In court documents obtained by WUSA9, Shalev Ben-Avraham, Naresh Bhatt's attorney wrote that "Mr. Bhatt was never asked to report her missing." He writes that this shows that statements made by the Commonwealth, claiming that Naresh Bhatt didn't want to file a missing persons' report during the Aug. 2 welfare check, are incorrect.
He also wrote that several false statements were used to obtain the arrest warrant.
In the court documents, he refers to a letter to Commonwealth Attorney Amy Ashworth, from Manassas Park Police Captain Steven Loving. In the letter, Captain Loving writes that he had a conversation with Detective Ventura about the criminal complaint, specifically the portion where she mentioned 'Mamta being dragged from the house'.
In the letter, Loving writes:
"Detective Ventura explained that after the magistrate reviewed her complaint, the magistrate advices her to include details about the body being moved from the house. In a rush, she wrote that the body was dragged out of the house. She assumed since the body had been dragged inside the house, it must have also been dragged out of the house. When I asked for evidence supporting the claim that Mamta was dragged out of the house, Detective Ventura acknowledged that she could only prove the body was not in the house but had been dragged from one room to another within the house."
Ben-Avraham writes that "without the false statement, no warrant would have issues and there is no probable cause to hold Mr. Bhatt on this charge, and he should be granted bond."
On Friday, Manassas Park Police Chief Mario Lugo told WUSA9 that the case against Naresh Bhatt is based on a lot of evidence.
"There's more evidence to this case. The nature of how this body was removed from the house is what the defense is really pushing us on right now. But, that's just one piece of evidence. There's more to this case than that," said Lugo.
He told WUSA9 that since the start of this investigation, they've executed dozens of search warrants, and conducted more than 10 searches in connection to the missing Mom.
"Searches, we've done over 10. We've done grid searches, searches with K9s.," said Lugo. "In terms of search warrants and subpoenas, I think we're pushing probably 30 that we have submitted and received information on."
He explained that the search warrants were for a number of things, including the couple's Manassas Park home.
"Search warrants of the house, obviously. Data from the car. Financial records from banking institutions. Subpoenas for phone records and stuff like that, for GPS, and things of that nature," said Lugo.
He told WUSA9 that one of their most helpful pieces of evidence was a video of Naresh, that was mentioned in court.
"Some of these videos that we obtained, footage of him in certain areas has been really helpful," said Lugo.
He said they continue to receive tips and leads.
"We're still following up on those. We've also conducted several interviews on individuals and reinterviewed more people just to clarify a couple of things as this investigation goes on," said Lugo.
He said that while they've done a lot of searches in different areas, they have not searched any bodies of water, yet.
"A lot of tips we received, they believe she's in a body of water, just based on some statements made by Naresh and stuff in the past," said Lugo.
He explained to WUSA9 that they look at the records, specifically GPS records, and look to see if any of the tips match up to areas that the GPS shows he may have visited.
"We kind of look at those areas to see if that's an area that he possibly visited and that takes time to verify and see if this is an area to search. Because it's going to take a lot to have a dive team go in and search these bodies of water. They're all around us when you start looking for a body of water. They're really all around us. So, we just want to make sure we don't do something when that person wasn't even near there at the time," said Lugo.
Lugo told WUSA9 Friday night, that he expects another search to be conducted by law enforcement in the next couple of weeks.
"There's another area we're going to search. I don't want to go into details or give the location, because I want to give our professional staff an opportunity to go out there and search that area," said Lugo.
Since the start, the community has been invested in Mamta's case. Early on, friends organized searches in different areas
On Friday night, Lugo told WUSA9 he appreciates the way the community has helped and fought so tirelessly to make sure Mamta gets justice. When it comes to the searches law enforcement has done, he said they've been getting assistance from neighboring agencies.
"The bigger jurisdictions like Prince William, Loudoun, Fairfax, they all have their own search and rescue teams and they've been really helpful in allowing us to use their resources," he said.
He explained that when it comes to involving the community in those searches, it's not needed right now.
"I've always been straightforward with the public to say, 'hey if I need your help to search an area I'm going to ask' and that opportunity hasn't presented itself, but I know that I would have a lot of people willing to help if that was the case," said Lugo.
He told WUSA9 that while he unfortunately does not believe Mamta is alive, his department is still following every lead.
"I don't believe she's alive. I know there's some people on social media saying she is. But, I don't believe she's alive. There's no evidence that proves that she is," said Chief Lugo. "I just can't wait to get this case to rest and get justice for this poor lady who was treated the way she was".
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