MANASSAS, Va. (Court TV) — Prosecutors played surveillance videos in court Monday that appeared to show Naresh Bhatt visiting several stores to buy cleaning supplies in the days after his wife disappeared.
Naresh Bhatt sits in court on Oct. 19, 2026. (Court TV)
Naresh Bhatt, 49, is charged with murder and defiling a body in the death of his missing wife, Mamta Kafle. Kafle, who had emigrated from Nepal to live with her husband in the United States, disappeared in July 2024, but she wasn’t reported missing until her co-workers alerted police days later.
Although Kafle’s body has never been found and prosecutors have not said how she may have been killed, they have said blood and DNA evidence at the couple’s home suggests she was killed there, and they estimate that she was killed on July 30, 2024. When police interviewed him, Bhatt denied knowing where his wife was, saying she left on her own and may have gone to Texas or New York. Investigators found no evidence that Kafle left the home willingly.
Naresh Bhatt speaks to an employee at the Home Depot on July 30, 2024. (Court TV)
On Monday, prosecutors continued their case against Bhatt, calling witnesses who testified they saw him on the day of the alleged killing and in the days after. A Home Depot employee testified to video showing Bhatt arriving at her store on July 30, when he purchased garden gloves. “He asked about pricing,” the witness said. “He asked what were the different prices between the gloves he had,” before selecting one pair to purchase.
A Walmart employee testified that Bhatt came to her store on July 31, wearing a striped orange shirt. Surveillance videos played in court for the jury showed Bhatt walking through the store, spending several minutes in the household cleaner aisle, where he picked out a cleaning spray and disinfecting wipes. Bhatt stopped to use the bathroom before using the self-checkout kiosk, where he bought the cleaning supplies he had been browsing, along with bananas, air freshener and Febreze.
On Aug. 1, video showed Bhatt arriving at a gas station, where he threw items into multiple trash cans on the property.
Naresh Bhatt uses a self-checkout at Walmart on July 31, 2024. (Court TV)
Kafle’s friend, who also lived with the victim after she first arrived in the United States, testified on Monday that Bhatt was controlling and would immediately reach out if his wife left the house. “He didn’t want her leaving the apartment at all, basically,” she said. The friend said that when she attended a birthday party for Bhatt and Kafle’s child after Kafle’s disappearance, Bhatt approached her and said he needed to tell her something. “I didn’t want to be alone with him, so I never found out,” she testified.
Bhatt’s defense said in its opening statements that there is a lack of evidence connecting its client to his wife’s presumed death and urged jurors not to rush to judgment.
