MANASSAS, Va. — A Manassas Park man facing a felony charge in the disappearance of his wife was back in a Prince William County courtroom on Thursday. Investigators believe 37-year-old Naresh Bhatt killed his wife, Mamta Kafle Bhatt, but he has not been charged with murder, nor has her body been found. She's been missing for more than a month.
A judge decided Thursday to waive Naresh Bhatt's preliminary hearing for the single felony count he's facing for concealing a dead body. Lawyers WUSA9 spoke with say Naresh Bhatt's public defender is trying to speed up this case so it heads to trial quicker. The hearing was scheduled for Oct. 24. In it, prosecutors would lay out all the evidence that they have against Naresh Bhatt.
"Time is of the essence, and I think the public defender was really smart to try to speed things up," Virginia-based lawyer Pierre Priale told WUSA9.
With that hearing waived, the next step would be to take the case to a grand jury in circuit court. However, Naresh Bhatt's public defender says he plans to waive that as well, which would mean the case would go directly to trial.
"I am really surprised that the prosecutor agreed to cut down on the timeline," Priale said. "The odds are stacked against the prosecutor and I am sure they are moving quickly and pressuring law enforcement to try to find additional evidence to establish the offense and potentially, my belief is that more charges are coming," he added.
Throughout the proceedings, the defense lawyer has insisted that the evidence presented by prosecutors is weak, particularly because Naresh Bhatt is facing a single charge of concealing a dead body, and Mamta's body has not been found.
The community supporting Mamta called it legal gymnastics.
Holly Wirth, Mamta's former colleague, said Thursday's hearing should not be considered a setback.
"Mr. Bhatt's defense attorney has said on the record that he feels the evidence is fairly weak, so we know the faster they can bring that to trial, the more likely the Commonwealth will not be able to strengthen their case, is their assertion. I think it's understandable that they want to get him tried on this charge as soon as possible. I know in my heart that there is going to be more charges to come. We can't consider this a setback. We have to consider this just a step until more serious charges are levied," Wirth said.
It is still unclear when Naresh Bhatt will be back in court.