'Liar' Husband's Story CRUMBLES in Mamta Bhatt Case

What are you saying to her if she's watching this right now? If she's watching, come back, whatever it takes to, you know, like, we can fix it. A husband's pleading request for his wife to come home safely. But could that very home be a crime scene? So the lights were turned off and the room lit up. And what did those reddish-brown stains appear to you? To me, I suspected that they were blood. When Mamta Bhatt went missing, her husband gave cagey answers to investigators. So that, you know, like, maybe she's in the new year or something like that. She's trying to give me a hard time. Now he's the one on trial for Mamta's murder. When the records that we received appeared to contradict some of the statements made by Mr. Naresh Bhatt. This is Scandal, presented by Law & Crime. I'm Ciara Gillespie. For the first time, we're hearing from accused killer Naresh Bhatt amidst his ongoing murder trial. Because you didn't initially report her missing. Why is that? I'm the suffered one. My baby and myself, you know, like, we are suffering the most. That same man who says he's the one who's suffering didn't report his own wife, Mamta Khafal Bhatt, missing after she abruptly disappeared in summer 2024. And his reasoning doesn't quite add up. and you didn't even inform us about the 3rd and 4th. Why didn't you do that? Why did you talk about the 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th and 5th? I left everything in a flash. Yes, I will tell you in a flash. The police came to the 2nd floor and they are coming in. They are just coming to investigate. After that, I called them. After that, I became serious. There is no one to stop us from doing this. After that, I spoke to the police for 20-30 minutes. I don't know the time. It was a long talk. After that, the police officer gave me a card. We're taking a look back at this week's court proceedings. The most compelling witnesses are: testimony and shocking evidence in the case against Naresh Bhat. But first, let's begin by talking about Mamta herself. In summer 2024, Mamta was 28 years old. She lived in Manassas Park, Virginia with her husband, Naresh Bhat, and their 11-month-old daughter. Originally from Nepal, Mamta moved to the U.S. back in 2021 to live with her husband. At the time, he held a pretty well-respected job in the nation's capital. Where did the defendant work again? White House. The White House military office? Yes. Did you come to learn in your investigation whether the defendant had a security clearance? Yes. And did he? Yes. While that's a high-profile job, Mamta herself also worked in a renowned facility. She was a registered pediatric nurse who worked at the UVA Health Prince William Medical Center. And it was there on July 27th when Mamta was caught on security camera video for the last time. If we could have you use a pointer, could you point out on the screen that's behind you, please, for the jury to see, where is Mamta and where are you? That was me and that was Mamta. The next day, on July 28th, Mamta spoke to a friend on the phone. And then the following day after that, July 29th, Mamta had a video call with her mom. And according to this week's testimony, that's the last day Mamta's phone ever had any activity. What is the last date that this device had connection? It was July 29th, 2024. And what date was this record run? This was run on September 3rd, 2024. So on this record, are there any dates after July 29th, 2024 between that and September 3rd, 2024? No. Though Mamta's phone never had any activity after July 29th, 2024. Mamta's husband Naresh says the last time he saw her was on July 31st. He later told multiple journalists this. Talk to me about the last time you saw her. In the evening of Wednesday, we were there and we ate together. Yes. What was the date the defendant told you that he last saw his wife Mamta? He said when we were interviewing, he said it was Wednesday. Initially, he didn't remember the date. And during interview, I just checked my calendar and told him that, yes, it was July 31st was Wednesday. You told him July 31st. When he kept saying it was Wednesday, when I asked about the date, he did mention about having dinner together and that they ate what Mamta had brought from the riverside, watercress. And then he took her, his daughter, their daughter, infant daughter upstairs while Mamta was downstairs doing her chores. Then I asked again that what was the date. He said it was Wednesday. So when we were speaking, I checked the calendar the Wednesday before our interview and that was July 31st. And I told that to him in the interview. He told police this too. That Wednesday was the last day he saw Mamta. Did you know what clothing she was wearing Wednesday night? Usually at home, always like a t-shirt and then, you know, some like a trouser. But here's the thing I find really interesting. It wasn't Naresh who called police. No, it was Mamta's work when she failed to show up. Her coworkers made a wellness check call. And this body cam is from when first responders initially spoke to Naresh. Hello sir, how are you? I'm officer Timon Espar. We're looking for Ms. Montecalfe. Yeah, we see like on due Wednesday she left and then she says she's gonna go either New York or Texas and then she left like she had the phone and then she destroyed that phone and then she left. So she she destroyed the phone and she left she said she was going to New York? Yeah her sister like one of her sister. Okay do you have any other contact information? Yeah I like she has a different different three phones I do have like a two phone numbers one phone number somebody other receiving one another for contact number for the New York I do have. Okay can you show me that? Can we get those phone numbers from you? Yeah we just want to see if she's okay because we have an employer calling. Did she say why she left? Yeah because you know like we are about to separate and then the home inspection come here to I'm about to sell the home so you know like so you want to say like okay I want to go you know with my sisters and then she used to work Wednesday Thursday Friday and Saturday and then sometimes see I don't know where you can come inside or I can come outside and you know like she used to live in a Paul's house I don't know the exact address I know the building because you know I see noticed there because you know I saw her email and then one place over there and then I don't know somewhere in Manassas because on the 8th I I feel like on the 8th she started a job. Last month? No no yeah last month so on the 8th so I'm not working since that she say like you know she gonna be stay there and then once she gonna be everything settle down she will take the baby she not gonna leave the baby with me that's what she said I know the building in Falls York where she was still she's living over there or Texas because I already conversation with the her sister she just did not reply me and then you know she was asking me and then her mom and then her mom is also asking for me. I don't know where is she. That video has been out there for kind of a while but this week we got brand new body camera video from inside of Naresh's home. He told police that he and Mamta slept separately on Wednesday and he didn't hear her leave the following day. Okay, Thursday morning you get up around 5 or 6 in the morning to see the baby. Sometimes, I don't know the time, but you know I feel like every day I have two times yes. Okay. three times. Okay, so you're out feeding the baby. Where is mom-pa? That room. Okay. But I don't see her. You know, usually she's supposed to be in that room. Okay. And you just believe she's in that room? Yes. Okay. When do you hear her leave? I don't hear. But like I hear some people like the people who live in the basement, they live in the, you know, early in the morning as well. Okay. Yeah. So you hear the people in the basement, but you don't hear them? No, I don't hear like you know, sometimes I hear, but at that time, if you are not concerned about anything, you don't care about it. Like, you know, just, you know, like it's normal. If you hear something like that, sometimes, you know, I play this music as well. So because I have like, you know, very bad sleep, and then I have a sleep apnea as well. Sometimes I use that machine, sometimes I do not use. That's why, you know, this is the music. Throughout the day, Naresh says he never heard from Momta. Okay. Thursday when she got to work, did you have any contact with her? Okay. Detective, on that Thursday, August 1st, you asked the defendant, did Momta contact him? What did the defendant say? He responded with no. She did not? She did not. It wasn't until August 2nd when Naresh says he realizes something is off. Then we realized something like missing. And then somebody said, like, no, she's not at the work. And then after, like, somewhere in the afternoon, the police officer says, like, the police officer was here. And then she never showed up at the work. And then I said, like, I'm going to come, you know, like, register the report. And then they say, it is the first time. No, it's not the first time. And then, you know, a few times before it happens. And they say, like, okay, it was all around. So, Friday comes around. You don't see, you don't hear her, see her, anything. At what point do you think something's wrong? Oh, when the police officer was here. So, Thursday, her not showing up after work, does it concern you? It wasn't, like, a big concern because, you know, that has happened before as well. You know, that doesn't, like, make me scared, like, you know. Okay. The cops come. The only thing I was scared at that time, you know, like, you know, I wasn't scared about the cops. But, like, they say, my wife is the one, she never leave the work. She leave the family. She leave everything. She don't care about anything but, like, work. Or, like, you know, if, you know, like, somewhere, like, you know, where we make money. You know, like, even, like, before that, at work, like, you know, maybe getting disturbed me. So, you know, like, I'm going to leave with my friends. And then I'm not going to come back for four days because, you know, I have to go work like that. Okay. That's how she do. So, work was her number one. Number one. She'll never miss. She'll never miss work. Okay. So, you're saying she'll leave family, friends, and everyone but work, she won't. Yes. Okay. So, police come by, tell you she doesn't show up for work. What are you thinking? Then, you know, like, I was thinking about, like, you know, she say, like, you know, either I want to go to the, you know, like, if something happens, you know, like, you know, if she, you know, want to move out or, you know, want to move near her. Makes sense. That's what, like, you know, she always keeps saying, you know, so that, you know, like, maybe she's in New York or something like that. And I talk to her sister. Maybe she say, like, yeah, maybe she's trying to do that, you know, like, this and that. Just because I'm. When did you talk to your sister? I think that was, like, Friday. Okay. Friday before or after the police came? I think before that. You think? Yes. Okay. And how did you talk to the sister? Usually, like, over Facebook. Okay. And what did the sister say? Sister said, let's, like, you know, work and see. Naresh tells first responders that Mamta has left before, and maybe she did again. He says she has family in New York and Texas, and maybe she went there. When investigators dug deeper, though, they found Mamta doesn't have any family in New York or Texas. However, culturally, she kind of does. And so I know a lot of people refer to the people that live in Texas and New York as their sister, but they're not blood. They don't have any, like, you know, even I don't have any, like, you know, blood relatives over here. She doesn't have any blood relatives over here. Okay. But she has more relatives than I do. Okay. And with this explainer, it all makes a bit more sense. Where do your sisters live? My sister, Anita, she lives in New York as well. And two of my sister, Babita and Lakshmi, they live in Texas. So she's, like, you know, we call sister, like, anybody younger. Like, we call her sister. So she used to call me, like, when she has stuff to ask, like, anything. Like, you know, we call, like, you know, she calls me regularly, like, you know, when she needs stuff. Or she has to ask me something. Just to clarify, you said you call each other sisters? Yeah. Are you actually blood relatives? No. In our culture, like, if you have, like, somebody younger or older, we, like, call them sisters. Like, if somebody's older, they call brother. Like, you know, we always go by. Like, brother, sister, uncle, aunt, stuff like that. So does that mean that Mamta would call you sister? Yeah. It was actually this family friend who sounded the alarm to Narash. She reached out to him in early August 2024. How is everything? Mamta, mom called me saying she's not answering her phone. Is everything okay with you guys? Please let us know. And did you receive a response to that text message? Yeah. So he responded saying namaste back to me. And he said, That means everything is fine. And what is the date, time, and stamp of his response? That is August 2nd, 1152 p.m. And what did you take that response to mean? So he said everything is fine with them. Everything is good. Did he, so he did not indicate either in English or Nepali that Mamta was missing? No. What is the next text? Okay, the next text says usually she works Thursday to Saturday. And what date and time is this? That is August 3rd at 1209 a.m. So August 4th at 1232 a.m. I said, did you guys have fight again? And then his response was, no, we decided to separate with respect. No, any discussion at all. Even we don't argue. She wanted to move either New York or Texas. And based on your relationship and your knowledge of Mamta, did she, were you and your sisters the only individuals she knew in New York and Texas? Yeah. And she wasn't with you at this time? I would know if she was there. But back in Virginia, that's still what Naresh is telling investigators. All roads lead back to New York or Texas. But where do you believe she's at? Because you're. You're saying that's all on social media where people are claiming, hey, maybe it's this, maybe it's on the MS-13 because someone else is a kid. Where do you think she's at? I don't. I'm just like, you know, I don't know. Like, maybe, yeah. If, like, you know, she's trying to hide, you know, like, everybody knows by this time. So she can't hide. I don't know. Maybe where I believe, like, you know, I always check, you know, those places. You know, where I believe, maybe on that apartment. I just went out, you know, stay outside in the parking lot. You know, check the mail, you know, phone mail at the main site. There is a box. There was, like, you know, I was thinking about it. And then I don't see any, any symptoms. And then the. Usually she used to go with her friends. And then she said one of the Filipino friend. And then, you know, I don't know the Filipino friend. And then we have same common thing. Her close friend say, like, yeah, she say, like, you know, she want to go with the Filipino friend. And then she suggested, don't go with the, you know, like. other people who you don't know very well. You know, you have different language, everything. And then, you know, she say, like, you know, I ask her, did you talk to that? And even, like, she say to me, I'm going to the Filipino friend. And then she say, like, she is not there. So these are the possible area. If, you know, like, she is trying to hide him, you know, sometimes she say, like, you know, doing, like, you know, some unhappy condition. Then you, you know, something like that. You know, if she cook food, in fact, not eat, I will disappear from the world. Then you will eat. Then who going to cook you like that? You know, that's what, that's what, you know, we argue sometimes. So, Texas and then New York are the only place, you know, if she want to hide. By this time, news of Mopta's disappearance has spread on social media. So, August 5th, 11.14 p.m., I said, Joy Saab, I'm posting about Mopta missing on the U.S. Nepali health network. Are you okay? So, I asked him, like, you know, I'm posting about Mopta. U.S. Nepali health network is a media, like, that is popular among Nepali. So, a lot of people will look at it. I said, I'm going to post it on that one. So, please let me know. I'm going to upload her picture and screenshot of the Facebook page. So, I said, before I do it, like, you know, I'm going to give him the information I'm going to upload. According to Mopta's friends, Naresh isn't helping in the search at all. Was the defendant telling you? About any of the efforts he was making to find Mopta at that time? No, only the police. So, he just said he reported to police, but he was not doing anything on his own? No. In fact, Sunita is even captured on body camera calling in to detectives from states away. Yeah, because, you know, it's not usual for anybody to be missing like that. And I don't know if her husband had told it. I think it has some misunderstanding with that and I'm like, you know, so there might be, I don't know, something going on like, you know, you have to investigate more at least, you know, just to be able to track her car or something like, you know, I know, understand, I understand about the privacy and everything, but, you know, somebody like, you know, life is not important than the privacy. Like, you know, if that person is gone, that privacy is not going to affect anything. Right. Police, doing their due diligence, have to ask about the social media posts. When she went missing, I mean, everything. Everybody knows about it now, right? - Yes, yes. you've seen it on facebook yeah we posted on the uh facebook and then you know like after we posted on the facebook everybody sees oh yeah it blew up so because of that we're that's a huge reason why i needed to come out and talk to you just to kind of see where the missing piece is at right because there's a lot of people contacting us about just history between you two and family friends and all of that right so now i have to ask a specific question on essentially everything that's going on what i'm just trying to understand is we do not have arguments well when you did have arguments they would become physical no they never became no so this was when um he was talking i had asked him about arguments and um he was explaining the one time that he got into an argument for this particular time they got into an argument and uh the plate hit her on her head if we are like not happy with each other we don't talk and then you know like most of the time we avoid a food sandwich you know like she was cooking for me you know like i said i'm not going to eat for you what you cook that's how we talk okay even like you know that's like you know some some kind of family stuff as well that's how you know like usually that is more effective way to fight through our family okay and the reason i'm asking is because again the community has come together we've gotten a lot of information on essentially them picturing making you seem like you're this horrific monster right yeah so that's why i'm coming to talk to you just to kind of figure out like where all of that is coming from right where do you think she's at right now if you if someone asks you about where do you believe she's at all these social media and stuff like that you know like i don't believe either like you know see where something some people saying like you know ds13 something dsk13 if that involves or sometimes you know i don't know like you know i don't know what's going on what was that ds13 something gang or something so this is when yeah this is when he mentions ms13 but very vaguely and then moves on to other stuff in your training and experience do you understand what ms13 is yes it's a gang it's a gang again this is in response to your question where he thinks manta is yes during this same august 9th interview investigators ask about mamta's mental health issues naresh tells them he found what he refers to as abortion pills so they asked to see the pills it's still upstairs can you show us you said for abortion yeah okay do you believe she was pregnant no she had uh something i don't know the name what's the name by what types of pills is the defendant indicating he found abortion pills so this is like birth control these two are for the birth control okay the pills don't seem to lead anywhere in the investigation except upstairs and that is where detectives notice something right away i'm looking around um to see if there's any more medication um but i notice a lot of um i noticed lysol you know cleaning products while i'm looking through the closet could you identify on the screen for the jury where you're seeing a bottle of lysol right there at this point at this time on august 9th did you make any observations of any other cleaning supplies there's a solution here and then here there's like wipes i don't know if you can see them i don't know if you could see it after this is worth noting for when a search warrant is later executed at the home investigators find even more cleaning supplies uh this is a photograph of the uh two sinks in the master bathroom and we see a number of items on the sink including what appears to be a lysol disinfected bottle and some wipes were those there when you got there yes there also seems to be a a phone box um on that sink as well was that there yes 43 a closer photograph of the disinfectant wipes the lysol and the iphone box this is the cabinet underneath the kitchen sink now uh what types of cleaning supplies can we see in this image uh there's a myers brand spray bottle there's disinfectant wipes uh i see pledge in this picture as well those items stand out to detectives but so too do mamta's cell phone records why did you seek to obtain these records um part of a missing person's investigation um we were trying to locate her last whereabouts um when those when the records that we received appeared to contradict some of the statements made by mr naresh these are the same records that show the last activity from mamta's phone on july 29th 2024. the last outgoing call by that phone number is on july 29th 2024 at 1 58 24 pm utc or i'm sorry that would be am i'm going to scroll down even further here from line item 85 through it looks like 107. did that number make any call no there were no outgoing calls from that number go a little bit further down 107 to 130 line items did that number make any call during that period of time no phone calls outgoing is there any indication of other activity after that last line item on 152 no as detectives take a closer look at the evidence naresh steps in front of the camera this is video from august 12 2024 from the tv station wusa9 so you don't want to do it now no okay because you know i didn't ask them oh i didn't ask them so like you know i'm not authorized or i'm authorized i mean i i think it's up to you whether you want to get the word out because i'm gonna you know you want to ask police yes okay naresh tells the reporter he's not sure if he can talk so he wants to decline any interviews i don't want to talk to the media he's a bad person like you know hey why are you talking to me i don't think it would be i don't think it would be bad if you said you don't think but like you know you don't know but but the message is you want them to if you see her if you ask them you don't like okay it's up to you yeah no i'm not i'm i'm not okay right now i need to know i need to know everything because you know okay sorry and yet on august 14th naresh gives a full-fledged interview to the same station did you did she say anything about leaving so how did you realize that she was missing oh you know like she wasn't uh a fair at her work and then she's very like focused on her work and then once we know like you know she's not at work then you know like that makes very serious to me and uh you know that's how you know like i don't know like what i supposed to say when was the last time you saw her okay and then what happened after that did she leave did you leave no just like you know she was like you're working on the kitchen you know after like you know eating these things and then stuff like that i just went upstairs with my baby okay you went to sleep okay and then what happened next when was she supposed to go to work yeah we were already in the morning yeah and you know like about like 5 30 like around six we supposed to leave from the home but she left the night before this isn't the only interview naresh is part of either but she left the night before this isn't the only interview naresh is part of either i might add he also speaks to an independent journalist from nepal now they speak nepali in this interview but there are english subtitles if i were to ask you this question, what would you say to someone who is curious about you? where are you right now? if i were to ask you this question, i would say that i know you very well what would you say to someone who is curious about you? 3 वर्ष भाई भन्नु भाई ना बिए भको? चार फुक्ष भाई भाई भो चार फुक्ष भाई भाई भो कहले कहा होले जस्तो लाक्ष? कि ममाताले कहा होना सक्षिन? कि गलत डिसिजन पर गरिंग कि? अथभा अरु कि बायो कि? कि होना सक्ला जस्तो लाक्ष तपाईलाई? जस्तो तपाईलाई? कि लाक्ष? कि लाक्ष भन्नु? अब गरि-गरि चैं हो कि? आँछा कि? अब हुन्छन त्यो आई सेगे पछाडि कि? अब यस्तो शरीर जिरिंगना हुन्छा कि? भन्नु भन्नु ही सक्षिन? But I have to highlight this. Reporter Katie Lusso asked the question we've all been wondering. If Naresh last saw Mamta on July 31st, why didn't he call police? And be warned, he has a pretty rambling response here. So Naresh doesn't call police, but they come calling on August 21st, 2024. That's when an initial search warrant is served and the findings are shocking. The initial phase is where we do our walkthrough. I take my overall photographs. We'll start a sketch. It's basically getting our game plan together. In the second phase of the systematic approach, that's called the collection phase. In that phase, we've identified. I've been staring at the crime scene 10 to 12 hours, looks through our crime scene to make sure we haven't left anything like evidence behind. We haven't left our equipment behind. We call that our fresh eyes search. Andrea Feldman worked as part of the Prince William County CSI team on this case. She collected cell phones, zip ties, and knives from the Naresh-bought home. From the kitchen, I observed two cell phones, both iPhones. I also observed several knives in the kitchen. Let's talk specifically about the knives first. Where were the knives that you located? I located knives in a drying rack right next to the kitchen sink. How many knives were there? Four. Throughout the house, what experts believe are blood spots could be seen to the naked eye. In reference to evidence collection in the bathroom, I took a very close look at both window sills, and including the window panes, and I noticed what I thought to look like reddish brown stains on the window sill and the window panes. And what did those reddish brown stains appear to you? Is that based on your training and experience? Yes. Prosecutors say blood was found in the bathroom and bedroom. And does each of these post-its represent a different stain that you observed with your naked eye? Yes. Can you count how many there are? Seven, eight, seven, seven. These blood stains were seen with just the naked eye, but when the Blue Star blood testing chemical was applied to the bathroom and bedroom, it lit up. There is an area of blue flowing right here at the corner of the bathtub. And can you tell us, do you see, are there many blue spots? There's several. There's several. There's blue spots here. There's blue spots here at the base of the tub, and then it continues on, and there are also blue spots here closer to the wall. And what does that indicate to you? To me, that indicates that there may have been suspected blood there at one time. May have been, could have been cleaned? Yes. And this is just in the bathroom, by the way. The bedroom, in my opinion, had even more staggering results. I had noticed. I noticed that the carpet, to me, looked like it had been very wet and dry. The reason I noticed that, really nothing to do with being a crime scene investigator or being an expert in carpets, but I have two dogs, so I'm always constantly cleaning the carpet in my own house. So because of that, I noticed, like, when I, at home, oversaturate a carpet with, like, a cleaning solution or a carpet cleaner, the texture of the carpet is very different than when I clean it in my own house. So I noticed in, especially in this general area, like where the rocking chair had been, the texture of that carpet was slightly different than the texture of the rest of the carpet. So, the brightest area is up here in the upper right quadrant, and then. Is that where the square cutout is? There's also the bright blue reaction that goes down into the left and then down towards the middle of the photograph. The day after the search warrant was executed, on August 22nd, 2024, Naresh Bhat is arrested and charged for concealment of a dead body. The higher charge of first-degree murder is added months later in December 2024. And while Mamta Bhat has never been found, she is presumed dead. As for Naresh, she pleaded not guilty to all of the charges he faces and his trial. The trial began on October 7th, and these are just some of the bombshells dropped in week two of the trial against Naresh Bhat. For the latest updates in this case, stay right here on Long Crime. We're going to bring you the latest developments as soon as they're in. And that is where today's episode of Scandal leaves us for now. Thanks for watching. I'm your host, Sierra Gillespie, and I'll see you next time.