Prosecutors in the Manassas Park murder trial are continuing to make their case against Naresh Bhatt.
Bhatt is accused of killing and dismembering his wife, Mamta Kafle Bhatt. She was last seen during a July 29, 2024, video call. Her body has never been found.
Surveillance footage presented in court on Wednesday shows Bhatt disposing of trash at five dumpsters across Northern Virginia over a two-day span in 2024, DC News Now reports. Prosecutors believe the trash bags held Mamta Kafle’s remains.
Gabriela Manzanares, property manager for Fairfield Crossing in Falls Church, testified on Wednesday. She said the video shows Bhatt throwing the seemingly heavy bags into the trash compactor, according to WTOP. Manzanares also testified that Bhatt rented an apartment at Fairfield Crossing and that she was unaware of his Manassas Park home.
Prosecutors also questioned local landscaper Jose Barajas Ayala. He testified that Bhatt gave him a Ryobi saw as payment for a day’s work on August 1, 2024.
Ayala turned the saw over to the Loudoun County Sheriff’s Office on September 9, 2024. Police had arrested Bhatt days earlier. Prosecutors asserted at the trial’s start that evidence against Bhatt included blood matching Mamta Kafle’s DNA on a saw and in the couple’s home.
The trial is set to resume on Monday, October 26.
