Family prepares to travel to the USA to find out news

The family of Mamata Kafle, a Nepalese nurse who has been missing in the United States for three weeks, is in great distress. The parents are preparing to leave for the United States.

“We don't know how our daughter is doing or whether she is even alive,” said Mamata's father Kamal Kafle. “So many days have passed and we have not received any news.”

To gather information about the disappearance, Mamata's mother, Geeta Kafle, and her brother, Mahesh Kafle, are preparing to travel to the US, according to Kamal. Speaking to the Post, Kamal expressed his growing concern: “We have not been informed about her condition; our hearts are pounding. As soon as all the necessary arrangements are made, we plan to travel to the US immediately.”

Meanwhile, police arrested Mamata's husband Naresh Bhatt on Thursday to investigate the case. According to US-based international broadcaster CNN, Mamata's husband Naresh is accused of killing Mamata, a 28-year-old nurse, in her house and dragging her body outside.

“Naresh Bhatt is charged with violating the prohibition on concealing bodies, according to court records, and he was taken away in handcuffs on Thursday after authorities obtained a search warrant for the couple's home. Bhatt was in court Friday morning for arraignment,” the CNN report said. “He has not been formally charged with murder, but the preliminary criminal complaint obtained by WJLA states: 'On or about July 30, 2024, the defendant Naresh Bhatt murdered his wife, Mamta Bhatt.'”

Mamata, a nurse at UVA Health Prince William Medical Center, has a one-year-old daughter. The child has now been brought to the social services office.

While Naresh faces murder charges and is due to appear in court again on Monday, the missing nurse's parents are not prepared to hear anything unpleasant about her.

“We are travelling to the US to find out about Mamata's condition,” said Geeta Kafle, Mamata's mother. “We still have no information about our daughter and if we can get our granddaughter back, we will do so. If it is not possible to bring her to Nepal, we will stay there and take care of her. Mamata's daughter is all we have left of her.”

Mamata's father mentioned that the family had last spoken to her on July 30. They were impatiently waiting to hear from her again, but their hope of communication is fading. They were saddened to hear from Naresh, their son-in-law, that Mamata was away and might have been affected by a network issue. However, as Geeta confirmed, they were in touch with her granddaughter, Mamata's daughter, through Mamata's friends in the US.

Mamata's early life and marriage

Parents proudly said that Mamata was a bright student from a young age and always proved to be the best. After completing her schooling in Nepal, she went to Bangalore to study nursing. She was the best in her class and returned to Nepal after graduating.

During this time, Mamata was having an affair with Naresh Bhatt, who was originally from Kanchanpur but lived in the US. “Mamata was our only daughter and we wanted her marriage to be a well-considered one,” Kamal said. “We did not know much about Naresh's family, but for Mamata's happiness, we agreed to the marriage, which took place in Panauti, Kavre.”

According to Kamal, Mamata and Naresh got married in December 2020.

Mamata seemed to have a good relationship with her husband, and Naresh eventually brought her to the US. Kamal even remembers the exact date Mamata left for the US: “July 25 marks four years now. After she went abroad, everything seemed fine; she never showed any signs of distress.”

On August 22 last year, Mamata gave birth to a daughter. Kamal mentioned that Mamata had asked her mother Geeta to come to the US to help take care of the baby. However, before Geeta could go, Naresh's mother Parvati Bhatt decided to go instead, so Geeta's trip was postponed.

Parents suspect third-party negligence

Mamata's parents and other relatives suspect that there is something wrong behind the mysterious disappearance because they suspect something suspicious in Mamata's mother-in-law's behavior towards her daughter.

“We heard that Mamata's mother-in-law, who had gone to the US to take care of her, was not treating her well and was skeptical about Mamata's indifference to her demand for chhaupadi, the tradition of keeping a person in another shed during menstruation,” Kamal said. “Whenever we asked Mamata how she was, she always said she was fine. She never told us about the pain she was going through, though we kept hearing from outside. We thought it was just minor disputes that would be sorted out.”

According to Mamata's father, there has been tension in the family recently, which is why Mamata lived separately from her daughter for a while. However, after reconciling, they moved back in together.

Mamata's family claims that her husband Naresh and his mother have not treated her well recently. “During her menstruation, they did not treat her well under the guise of tradition,” said Mamata's aunt Maiya Kafle.

Maiya complained that, ironically, the woman who had taken care of her in the confinement had tortured her.

“Her mother-in-law wanted to take care of her, but instead she made Mamata work on an empty stomach and did not provide her with proper food or care. This only increased our suspicions,” she said. “We believe that their relationship deteriorated after her mother-in-law went to the US. Even after that, there were problems that we found suspicious.”

Mamata's family is sad that they were not the first to hear the news of their daughter's disappearance from her son-in-law. “After she disappeared, we repeatedly asked Naresh for information, but he only said that she might be found soon. We did not see any signs of grief from Naresh. It seemed that he was not affected at all by his wife's disappearance,” Mamata's aunt said.

Given these circumstances, the family believes that Mamata did not just disappear, but was possibly made to disappear. “We have heard that Mamata was not simply made to disappear, but was actually murdered,” said her aunt Maiya. “We have received information that she was killed and her body was hidden, with the complicity of Naresh Bhatt's family.”

The family demanded that the case not be dropped and demanded that those involved be brought to justice according to the law.