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During a peaceful gathering early Sunday in front of the Prince William County judicial center in Manassas, Sunita Basnet paused for a moment to reflect, reminiscing on the hardship of the past 365 days.
July 27 marks the one-year anniversary of the day Mamta Kafle Bhatt, a Manassas Park nurse and mother, was last seen at UVA Prince William Medical Center, where she worked.
She was last heard from on July 29, 2024, when she talked to her mother, Gita Kafle, on their final video call. The pair habitually spoke twice a day while Kafle was still living in Nepal.
Basnet, Mamtaās former nursing mentor, told InsideNoVa she was āemotionally traumatizedā by her menteeās disappearance. Bhattās husband, Naresh Bhatt, was eventually arrested in the case and has been charged with first-degree murder, concealment of a dead body and physical defilement of a dead body.
Wearing red alongside fellow supporters Sunday to honor Mamtaās favorite color, Basnet said she arranged a transfer to a new hospital shortly after Mamtaās disappearance.
āI changed my job at the hospital,ā Basnet said, ābecause it was very painful for me to stay in the same unit where I shared my time with Mamta and [when she] shared her story. I saw the bruises there, and I advised her to get out from that domestic violence.ā
Basnet added, āI have all the memories following me, so I have to change my job [to] another hospital ā¦ I couldnāt sleep and I gained a lot of weight, and I was kind of depressed, too, very sad. So I am trying to get away from that emotional trauma as well.ā
Trial delay,Ā seeking closure
While Ben-Avraham initially said he was amenable to a July 2026 trial date, Sweet and Sami favored three months later due to packed schedules in the interim.
Bina Khadkalama, a Nepali community member and spokesperson who keeps the community apprised of the Mamta case through TikTok videos, made her dismay known Sunday.
āWeāre disappointed, weāre sad, weāre very mad, weāre furious,ā Khadkalama told InsideNoVa. āWeāre in limbo, like ā what can we do? Because culturally and religiously, the family wanted to have closure and do some rituals that weāre supposed to do ā¦ we want that official something declared that sheās no longer, so they can do some rituals. Thatās a huge part of their life.ā
Basnet echoed Khadkalamaās emphasis on rituals, stressing the need for closure.
āWe are not able to do the rituals, say final goodbye to her,ā Basnet said. āIn this religion, we have to give her some kind of closure and say goodbye for her divine life. So it is very painful, and it is very painful for her mother. I see a lot of pain in her motherās eyes and her brother.ā
Holly Wirth, a former coworker of and advocate for Mamta Kafle Bhatt, said she āunderstands the rationaleā for why the defense and prosecution wanted to avoid any legal vulnerabilities in the trial, but added she disagrees with it emotionally.
On July 18, Irving appeared baffled by the defenseās request for the lengthy delay. Addressing Ben-Avraham from the bench, Irving said it was āmind-blowingā that a trial could take place over two years after the filing of the initial charges against Naresh Bhatt.
Wirth added that Mamta Kafle Bhattās supporters will stand alongside her family āhowever long it takes,ā despite a visible reduction of their numbers at the July 18 court hearing compared with last fall.
āThe best way we can honor Mamta is, if somebody is at risk, if somebodyās suffering intimate partner violence, please get out and call for help,ā Wirth said. āThereās resources ā if you don’t know what the resources are, you can ask me, you can ask any of the Mamta supporters, but at the end of the day we donāt want there to be any more Mamtas.ā
Naresh Bhatt was arrested Aug. 22 in connection with the disappearance of his wife and charged with concealing a dead body. He was arraigned Dec. 4 on the murder and defilement charges, as well as the prior concealment charge.
Mamta Kafle Bhattās body or remains have not been located, despite Manassas Park police conducting roughly 50 searches in the area since last fall.
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On July 30 and 31, Naresh Bhatt was captured on camera discarding trash bags at various dumpsters.
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Around 4:30 a.m. on July 30, Bhatt performed a Google search for āDiagram of brainā and looked up āChicken farm near me.ā
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Later that day, Bhatt went to Home Depot and bought a set of knives and a 40-pack of extra-strong black trash bags, according to Sami.
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At 1:30 a.m. on July 31, Bhatt was captured on video in Falls Church retrieving bags from his Tesla and putting them into a trash compactor. His Tesla tracked him to that location, but his phone was inactive and not on him at that time.
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In mid-December, court documents displayed a DNA match between Mamtaās hairbrush and a power saw. Mario Lugo, Manassas Park police chief, said at a Dec. 2 news conference that his team believed Mamta was dismembered in her home.
Initially scheduled for September of this year, Naresh Bhattās trial is now planned for six weeks between Oct. 5 and Nov. 13, 2026, with a pre-trial conference set for Sept. 10, 2026.
At the July 18 hearing, Irving directed both sides to block off an additional week through Nov. 19, 2026, in case the trial has to be extended.
Speaking on behalf of Mamtaās family, Wirth said the emotional ramifications of the caseās continued uncertainty have struck a chord.
āItās heartbreaking,ā Wirth said. āThey never have exactly understood what happened to Mamta. They donāt have her, they canāt grieve her. They canāt have the death rituals for her because we donāt have her body. We suspect we know who could tell us, but he is not wanting to do that. So itās going to be a really hard year to think theyāve gone 365 days with really no answers.ā
Shortly after Naresh Bhattās arrest, Mamtaās mother and her brother Mahesh made their way stateside, arriving in October to care for Mamtaās daughter, Neema, who will turn 2 on Aug. 20.
Mahesh Kafle, Holly Wirth, Sunita Basnet and a fellow community member stand in solidarity at Sundayās protest before the Prince William County judicial center. Kafle is Mamta Kafle Bhattās brother, while Wirth and Basnet are her former coworkers ā Basnet being Bhattās former nursing mentor.
Nadia Navarro became Mamta Kafle Bhattās roommate in Fairfax County after Mamta arrived in the United States from Nepal in 2021.
Back in August, Navarro said she was at a loss for words after learning of the initial concealment charge against Naresh Bhatt.
āMy first question to the police, I said, āAre you 100% sure that you know she is no longer with us?ā They were like 99% sure. Iām still in shock and really not processing this well,ā Navarro said after Bhattās arrest.
In a phone interview with InsideNoVa this week, Navarro spoke about her bond with Mamta and said it lives on within her.
āI feel like thereās a hole in my heart where Mamta used to be,ā Navarro said. āI try to get by, I try to do what I can to move on and continue with my life, but it’s really hard whenever there are these dates ā like her birthday [on May 28] was excruciating. She didnāt ever get to turn 29, she didnāt get to see her daughter turn 1 year. She’ll never get to see that.ā
Navarro added, āNot having any answers, not knowing where she is ā I never thought we would be so in the dark a year later, right?ā
Julia Kosatka, a Gainesville resident, also attended Sundayās gathering. She said the supporters will continue to turn out despite the long wait for the trial.
