Family friend, Bina Khadkalama shares her thoughts on the verdict of Naresh Bhatt

[00:00:00] Speaker 1: USA 9 breaking news now. Yeah, and we begin with breaking developments in the murder trial of Naresh Bhatt. Thank you for being here with us at 6. I'm Lorenzo Hall. [00:00:09] Speaker 2: And I'm Leslie Foster. So tonight the verdict is in. That jury has found Naresh Bhatt guilty on all three charges, including first-degree murder. Take a listen. [00:00:17] Speaker 3: We, the jury, find the accused, Naresh Bhatt, guilty of transporting, secreting, concealing, or altering a dead body. Guilty of first-degree murder, guilty of physically defiling a dead human body. [00:00:32] Speaker 1: You can see right there Bhatt showing no emotion as that verdict was read about 45 minutes ago. The jury deliberated for just over four hours, unanimously agreeing that Naresh did in fact kill his wife, Manta Koffley Bhatt. [00:00:46] Speaker 2: It has been two years since Manta disappears. Two long years for her family. Two long years for her friends. And tonight we hope that they finally have some sense of justice. [00:00:57] Speaker 1: Yeah, let's bring in our Katie Lusso now. She's been following every moment of this case since Manta went missing. Boy, Katie, you know what a journey it's been to get to this point here. A long journey, an emotional journey. [00:01:10] Katie Lusso: Incredibly emotional. I can tell you I've hugged like 20 people at this point. Just so many motions out here. Just so many people dressed in red. That was apparently Manta's favorite color. And so many people showed up to this courtroom today dressed in red. But there have been people here every step of the way, not only through this trial, but since day one, when Manta first did not show up to work. There were so many people who were looking for Manta from the very beginning and they never, never gave up. And that is what we've seen today. People who never gave up finally getting to feel some sense of closure, some sense of justice. [00:01:51] Speaker 2: You know, we heard the Commonwealth say that when she was doing her closing argument. [00:02:16] Katie Lusso: She said this community played such a huge role in making sure that Manta was never forgotten. Manta was not erased and she will not be erased. And the Commonwealth talked about how Nuresh likely was hoping people would just forget about Manta and move on. But nobody did. I have Bina here with me. Bina, will you join me live on air? My goodness, what a journey. I know it has been so emotional for you. Yes. How are you feeling right now? You've been in the courtroom every single day. Yes. How are you feeling? [00:02:48] Bina: I don't know what to say. Relieved. Peaceful a little bit. And it's like, is this actually happening? I cannot believe that this happened. And I felt like today is what day is today? [00:03:04] Katie Lusso: My goodness, what day is today? Tuesday. Tuesday, right? Tuesday. [00:03:07] Bina: Is it Tuesday? Yeah. We're getting yeses. Right. So Tuesday from last week, you know how they were kind of expediting a little bit, doing things faster. I thought it was going to go until next Monday. And they were like chopping it off like that. I'm like, it was too fast for me. And I was like, at one point I was like, what are they going to say? Right. Is it going to happen? I'm a very confident person normally, right? And my confidence was so, like, overloaded. But still, I'm like, when I was in the courtroom, when they got us in, like, five o'clock, my heart was beating so fast. I'm like, I need to get out of here. But I held tight. And then I imagined that for jurors it was not going to be a hard job because everything is so see-through, so straightforward for us, right? But I was like, you never know, jurors. You never know why they're taking too long, right? And it was only four hours, but it felt long. It felt long, yeah, and only four hours, right? And then, but they delivered it so well. It was so good. I was, like, I was hungry. I have to tell you, I'm on camera. I have not used the bathroom since morning. Oh, nesbina. Yeah, when I have, like, something stressful, like, I'm, like, so attentive, I forget everything. So, it was, I cannot imagine how the family's feeling. [00:04:34] Katie Lusso: And you've been sitting there with Gita every day. You've had to hold her up through this. I mean, this has been so much for you to take in. I know you haven't even had time to catch a breath. [00:04:46] Bina: No. [00:04:46] Katie Lusso: But it doesn't end today. [00:04:47] Bina: No, it doesn't end. It starts today because we wanted to have this answer first, right? Now, we got this answer, what's next, right? For family, for Mamta, for Nima. It goes on and on and on because, you know, we're going to be with them forever. I remember Mahesh. Mahesh is like a warrior. He worries so much on every little thing, generally. I remember until 5 o'clock before we went inside. He wanted to hear the assurance from people. He kept asking, do you think it's going to happen? Do you think it's going to happen? What do you think? Oh, people say something was second degree. I said, stop. It's going to be first degree. Stop. And I called other guys, and I told them ahead of time, assure him it's going to be first degree. He was so stressed. So I'm imagining how peaceful his mind is right now, his heart is right now. [00:05:46] Katie Lusso: You can finally have a moment. Yes, and I'm so part of Commonwealth. Thank you so much, Bina. And I know you are never going to stop saying Mamta's name and telling people who she was. And I know we here at WUSA9 will continue to talk about Mamta. [00:05:59] Bina: Thank you so much for supporting in this journey from day one. And we love you guys. I will send it back to you guys in the studio. [00:06:06] Katie Lusso: Thank you so much, Bina, for speaking to me and being such a kind person through all of this. Thank you. My pleasure. - Thank you so much.