Naresh Bhatt was found guilty on all three counts, including first-degree murder

[00:00:00] Speaker 1: You can see right there, no reaction from Nuresh Bhatt as he found out the jury decided he was guilty of killing his wife, Mantecafli Bhatt, concealing a dead body and defiling a dead body. The news that our family and friends have been waiting for for years now. He didn't have any reaction to the jury, but the jury decided he was guilty of killing his wife Mantecafli Bhatt, concealing a dead body and defiling a dead body. The news that our family and friends have been waiting for for years now. He didn't have any reaction. [00:00:30] Speaker 2: But the people who knew and loved her certainly do. And they are talking tonight. They are in front of our camera. And let's listen in, if we could, to some of the comments from people who are reacting to this verdict. True. Please respect their privacy. Give them time to grieve. Give them time to heal. I don't know if they'll ever sit down and give you an interview, but if they do, let it be on their own terms, please. I do want to say I have a message for Nuresh Bhatt. [00:00:59] Speaker 3: And I hope somewhere in the ADC tonight, before you go actually to state prison, you can hear my voice. I'm that white lady that you don't like, that white lady that you think is supporting Gita Mahesh and you don't have support. You're right. I am that white lady. And I am so damn proud to be that white lady. I don't care what color skin it is, what belief system I have. I am so glad that Mamta worked with me and chose me to be her warrior. What I now know is that you thought when you erased her that she would be erased. You thought nobody would notice that she was missing. Nobody would care. You would lie and say she went somewhere and nobody would look for her. You underestimated the strength of Mamta and let me tell you what, you highly underestimated the strength of the love that we had for her. So I hope when you sleep tonight you realize the gig is up dude. You are now convicted of first degree murder. Whatever lies you told in court or whatever lies you've told yourself. You didn't erase Mamta. You didn't on that day. You didn't on this day. And I plan on spending the rest of my life telling your daughter how awful you are and how fabulous her mom is. [00:02:30] Speaker 4: My last note is I'm gonna say something. This is an English and Nepali language as well. I'm gonna say in Nepali first. Okay guys. So in English, tomorrow is a very special, very big festival that occurs once in a year. So in English, tomorrow is a very special day, a very big festival that occurs once in a year. That tomorrow is a special for brothers and sisters. Right? And brothers and sisters are there to protect each other. Right? Do anything for each other. So before that very special day, we all believe, we all know from all the sisters around the world, we, all the power that we have, yeah, you can hear that some of Mamta's family and friends are still speaking there. [00:03:40] Speaker 1: And we have to talk about this community for a second because remember when Mamta was first reported missing, you had folks like Holly, the woman you saw there moments ago, constantly reaching out to our newsroom to make sure we were covering what was at the time a missing person's case. She wanted to make sure that Mamta's story was told, this community story was told. And as she said there, you underestimated the strength of Mamta, sending a message there to Nuresh Bhatt. [00:04:06] Speaker 2: Sending a message to everybody about erasure that she will not be erased. I mean, this is the passion that families who have loved ones who go missing have to have to get the attention in so many ways on their loved one. And this community decided that they would not allow Mamta to be missing without answers without a push for answers. Our Katie Leso has been covering this story since the very beginning. She's been in the courtroom this entire time. Katie, I understand you've got a family friend that you have with you right now. [00:04:39] Speaker 5: Yeah, Leslie and Lorenzo, when we talk about this community, I mean, they have been there since day one, and we've had the opportunity here at WUSA9 to get to know so many of them. I want to bring in Ashish Sangrula. Ashish, you knew Nuresh, you knew Mamta, you were friends with Nuresh. How are you doing right now? First? [00:04:57] Ashish Sangrula: No, today, actually, I'm very happy that, you know, he got charged with first degree murder because that's what all community wanted. That's what we wanted. We wanted justice and we wanted fair trial. And we wanted, you know, that the Mamta's family, they deserve to know what happened. And I think Commonwealth of Virginia did very, very good on getting the justice, proving that there's still law and order in the community, in the society, and no one is above the crime. They cannot get away with crime, no matter what status they are or where they work, what if they are veterans or if they work in a White House or if they have fancy house money, it does not matter in front of crime. You know, every crime you do, you're going to get, you know, punished for that. [00:05:40] Speaker 5: And Ashish, I know you and I met two years ago at one of the community rallies. You had sold Mamta and Nuresh their Heather Court home. You're in those videos when they're walking up to the door and getting the key for the first time. When you think back to those moments and you think back to now, you couldn't have imagined what would unfold inside of that home. [00:06:00] Ashish Sangrula: Yes, because, see, those families were very, very, you know, good families. She was Nuresh. My wife helped her to pass her end class because she was listening at first and then to, you know, work where she, if she wants to work in Idaho, but then she, you know, guided her way. Such a beautiful family. They were so happy about getting a house, getting a car, you know, building their dreams. They have American dreams. And then everything got shattered. And I'm, it was very hard for me two years back when he got first arrested, you know, when you find out that there's a blood in the room and things like that in the news and from the police, police conference. It was those three months was very, very hard for me and my wife and our family. We were, you know, very, we could not sleep. We have, um, you know, we always think about the happy times they had together. And now again, when he come, you know, confessed about, you know, putting pieces of his wife, that's, that's also, you know, we were not able to sleep at two nights. We were just talking why, what, what had happened? Why, why you need to do that? And having such a good life. Yeah, it was, it's, it's very, um, sad moment. And you know, yeah, yeah, it's tough. And I can tell it's emotional for you to even talk about. [00:07:20] Speaker 5: You've been through so much already. When you think back to Momta, how will you always remember her? [00:07:26] Ashish Sangrula: She was very strong lady, very committed. She was planning to, you know, do masters of nursing and she wanted to grow her career to NP and she was very well qualified. She passed her degree. She had put so much effort on her, on her American dreams. And, you know, my wife goes to Chamberlain University at that time. She told us she wants to do masters from there. She wants to, you know, do better, do better from Momta. She was posting her videos. She was so happy whenever she wants to celebrate. She always, you know, there is, um, cultural, um, stuff that she comes and acts and then very, very, very, you know, polite person, very humble down to earth so much that we could not talk when we are in witness because, um, they did not let us speak. She speak hard say and things like that, which, um, which I know we should have been late to do that, but it's still justice is made. So that's all our matters. And, um, yeah, very strong lady, very, very, um, you know, family person, very family. She took family. She put family first in front of everything. [00:08:29] Speaker 5: Thank you so much for speaking to me. And again, she was one of the witnesses. So he was not able to speak to the media this whole time. He is just one of the many people who knew and loved Momta. And while celebrating a small victory, still mourning the loss of an incredible woman. Back to you guys.