Sanjeeb Phuyal is the Nepali Editor of Newschecker based in Kathmandu, Nepal. He brings over a decade of experience writing and editing news. In his previous stint, he worked as online editor for The Kathmandu Post. With the growth of social media platforms—and the ever-growing competition amongst media outlets to churn out breaking news, he feels that fact-checking every piece of information has become more essential today than ever before.
Claim
Body of Mamta Kafle Bhatt, who has been missing since late July from Manassas Park in Virginia of the United States of America (USA), has been found.
Fact
Mamta Kafle Bhatt’s body has not been found yet. Her husband Naresh Bhatt has been arrested and charged with concealing a dead body, in connection with her disappearance.
Two videos claiming that the dead body of Mamta Kafle Bhatt—who has been missing since late July from Manassas Park in Virginia of the United States of America (USA)—has been found are going viral on TikTok.
Mamta Kafle Bhatt, 28, is a Nepali citizen who immigrated to the U.S. from Nepal in 2021 after she married Naresh Bhatt. She was living with her husband in Virginia state of the US, and has gone missing since late July. Mamta is presumed dead while her husband Naresh Bhatt has been arrested on the charge of concealment of her body. Bhatt is a US citizen who served in the US Army.
Video 1
Against this backdrop, TikTok user @crxrai998 posted a video showing photos of Mamata Kafle and her husband Naresh Bhatt. Text superimposed on the video reads, “Mamta’s hand was found buried inside her Home she shared with her husband after a dog found it? Death penalty to Naresh Bhatt. Mamta Kafle update.” Audio accompanying the video presented in a news reporting style says, “Police have finally found the body of Mamta Kafle’s body. Now Naresh Bhatt will face the music. This is how he tried to conceal the body and he took help from people. The result of his buying three knives and how he cut Mamta’s body into pieces is emerging. He is going to rot in jail.”
The video posted on September 2 has garnered 7375 likes, 154 users have shared and 221 people have commented until the last count. The archived version of the TikTok video can be seen here.
Video 2
The same TikToker @crxrai998 posted another video carrying photos of missing Mamta Kafle and her husband. Text superimposed on the video reads, “After a dog found a piece of Mamat’s hand buried in the park, her husband committed the crime in collusion with his girlfriend. Mamata Kafle update.” Audio accompanying the video reads, “Such a huge evidence was found in the car sold by Mamta’s husband. Now it is impossible for him to get away. Why did he bury Mamta’s body in the park outside his home? How was it revealed? Police have found an unexpected evidence from the car sold by Naresh. What mistake did Mamta make that triggered Naresh to kill his wife?”
The video posted on September 1 has garnered 15.2k likes, 765 users have shared it and 556 people have commented until the time of publishing this article. The archived version of the TikTok video can be seen here.
Newschecker found the claim to be misleading.
Fact Check /Verification
To check the veracity of the claim made in the viral video, Newschecker ran a search on Google for the latest news on the disappearance of Mamta Kafle. The search threw up several news articles regarding the ongoing search to find the clues in the case of Mamta Kafle missing.
We found a latest news article, updated on September 1, published on Prince Williams Times online and found that the police conducted a search Friday night in Signal Hill Park.
The article quoted police that detectives obtained information that led them to the park and that items were collected for processing during the search.
According to the article, court documents indicate that police discovered evidence of pools of blood indicating a dead body had been present in the home and dragged from the master bedroom to the bathroom.
A criminal complaint has accused Naresh Bhatt of killing his wife Mamta Kafle in their home then dragging her body outside, CNN reported in an article dated August 29. According to the court records, Bhatt, 37, faces a felony charge of concealment of a body. He was arrested and taken away in handcuffs on August 22 after a search at the couple’s home.
Further, we found another article, dated September 1, 2024, published on WJLA, an ABC Television affiliate news station, on Mamta Kafle’s disappearance case. The article noted that the search for missing Virginia mom Mamta Kafle Bhatt continued Saturday as volunteers handed out fliers bearing Mamta’s face to locals and visitors at the Manassas Park Night Market to bring more awareness to the case.
We also found another article published on NBC Washington confirming that police issued a search warrant to get a DNA sample from Naresh Bhatt that was made public Thursday. According to the article, the warrant provides new details revealing sharp contradictions in what Naresh said to police and what they learned through their investigation.
Earlier on August 9, Naresh Bhatt returned to court, where his defence attorney took the unusual step of waiving the preliminary hearing.
Thus, our findings show that the body of Mamta Kafle Bhatta’s body has not been found until the Nepal Standard time of publishing this article.
Conclusion
No, the body of missing Virginia mom Mamta Kafle Bhatt has not been found yet. The viral videos claiming that Mamta’s body has been found in the ground of the home she shared with her husband and in the nearby park are exaggerated. Police are still searching for the body.
This article will be updated when there are further developments in the case.
Result: False
Sources
Prince William Times, Sept 1, 2024
WJLA, Sept 1, 2024
FOX5, August 30, 2024
NBC Washington, August 30, 2024
CNN, August 29, 2023
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Sanjeeb Phuyal is the Nepali Editor of Newschecker based in Kathmandu, Nepal. He brings over a decade of experience writing and editing news. In his previous stint, he worked as online editor for The Kathmandu Post. With the growth of social media platforms—and the ever-growing competition amongst media outlets to churn out breaking news, he feels that fact-checking every piece of information has become more essential today than ever before.
