National Guard debate in DC; Naresh Bhatt admits to dismembering wife's body

Welcome in here to the DMV Zone. I'm Rena Rocco. It is three o'clock. We got a lot to talk about off the top here. So let's get right to it. It's a busy day. And we talked about the National Guard presence in D.C. It is expanding with Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth ordering more troops into the nation's capital. Now, that move comes as the Trump administration continues its military deployment in D.C., even as Democratic leaders, including Brooke Pinto for D.C. call for troops to be withdrawn. Pinto calling on five newly elected Democratic governors to pull their state's troops from the district once they take office next year. And that push coming amid growing criticism of the Trump administration's National Guard deployment and renewed debate over the military's role in local policing. We've got reporter for CityCast D.C., Emma Uber, joining us now with some of this reporting. Does it seem as though these governor-elects are agreeable to what Councilmember Pinto is asking of them? Not sure. We haven't heard yet. My team at CityCast has reached out to these governor-elects to ask them, you know, what they think about Councilmember Pinto's proposal. It sounds like she'll also be joined by our D.C. delegate-elect Robert White in making that ask. And so, you know, he'll be up close and personal on the Hill, maybe putting some pressure on those soon-to-be governors to withdraw their troops. Emma, as we talk about the National Guard troops, obviously, and what are the council members looking to ask of these blue governors, what do we know right now of what the defense secretary, Pete Hegseth, is looking to do? Because it sounds as though from some of the reporting we're reading here that he is looking to increase that number. Right. The Pete Hegseth and Brooke Pinto are certainly on different pages. Now, Pete Hegseth, the memo, you know, reported on by Politico from Hegseth does not explicitly say that they're going to be more National Guard members, but it does give those National Guard members more tools, including boats, Humvees, more cars. And so it definitely seems like the Trump administration wants to ramp up the National Guard presence, even while D.C. council members are asking for some help from blue states to decrease that. Okay, so it doesn't seem as though, say, for example, red states would increase their number of troops on the ground in DC. That's not what it sounds like this memo is asking for. I mean, we can't rule that out, but it does not seem like that's what this memo is asking for. This memo seems specifically about the vehicles, whether it's boats, Humvees, squad cars that National Guard members are going to have in D.C. What are the numbers right now? Because at the peak of the emergency last summer, the numbers on the grounds, boots on the ground per se, right? There were about 6,000. Some of the latest numbers from the task force reporting about 3,000. So that's half of it. We did see an initial decrease in violent crime. And then now it seems as though the number The numbers are a little bit more in flux and not so much representative of the increased presence. Right. So currently or as of Election Day Tuesday, there were 3,097 National Guard troops in DC. Now the largest contingent of those troops are actually the DC National Guard. That's more than 700 of them. Georgia, one of the states that Brooke Pinto is asking to kind of reclaim their troops, has 514 of those troops. That's a big number. These other states like Texas and Nevada have only one National Guard member in D.C., according to the Joint Task Force. So even if those governors say, you know what, come on back home, that's only one less troop in D.C. Right. The numbers aren't significant, if you will. You know, you talk to people in D.C. I'm sure you have as well. And while this is a politically divisive topic in some neighborhoods, it's not. They want the presence of added. They've added whatever that looks like, whether it's military, whether it's D.C. police or just some sort of law enforcement presence to reduce the crime in their neighborhoods. How is that being handled at the local level? I mean, is there a thought that maybe they should increase some sort of patrols in places that are seeing the crime rise? I mean, a poll, I believe, by the Washington Post showed that overwhelmingly D.C. residents do not want the National Guard troops on their streets. However, we've heard from Mayor Elect Janice Lewis-George, the D.C. Police Union, the D.C. Council, that there is a concerted effort to deal with staffing issues among D.C. police so that there can be more of a local presence instead of a national presence in some of these neighborhoods. The thing about these National Guard troops, you know, they're there for presence and they can detain someone, but they actually don't have arrest authority in D.C. So I think a lot of local DC officials and DC. Thank you, residents. Even if they do want increased law enforcement presence, they would prefer that to be an MPD officer who say is deputized to actually make that arrest. Okay, we'll see what changes when these new governors do take office come next year. We appreciate the update. Thank you, Emma. You can catch Emma's reporting there with CityCast DC. Meanwhile, major development in the murder trial of Naresh Bhat, the man accused of killing his wife Mamta, taking the stand today in his own defense. Bhat now claims his wife died by suicide and says that he panicked before dismembering her body and disposing of her remains in dumpsters across northern Virginia. This is the moment that you're watching here. You're about to hear where Bhatt admits to dismembering her body. At some point, did you start to cut the body of Mamta Khalsa? Yes. And what do you remember about that? Just make a smaller size so that it fit on the can. You were trying to do what? Lower body apart. So lower body apart. Lower her body apart? Yes. What do you mean by lower? Like separate the legs from the body. You heard there that admission by Naresh Bhatt. We've got Tisha Lewis joining us now. You've been covering this trial and you can almost hear some gasps in the courtroom there when he made that admission this morning. Yeah, an astonishing admission, alarming bombshell testimony on the stand by Naresh Bhatt. That's the Manassas Park man accused of murdering and dismembering his wife. And now we know at least he's admitted on the stand today on day 17, week five of this trial that he did, in fact, according to his account. Cut up his wife's body. It's hard to even hear. We spoke with some of Momta's friends. They assert that he's lying. We also spoke with a criminal defense attorney who is familiar with the legal teams that are involved in this case. And he said that this is an act of desperation. That is how he described it. Obviously, it'll be up to a 12 person jury to determine whether they believe this account or not. But again, Naresh Bhatt taking the stand, saying that he cut up his wife's body after he discovered her. In the couple's bedroom, claiming that she took her own life. And again, as you pointed out, he apparently panicked, cutting up her body and disposing it in these trash bins across northern Virginia. Quite the turn. Yeah. So there's three charges that Naresh is facing. One is that murder charge. The two other ones, he seems to have admitted on the stand for dismembering and defiling the body and disposing of that body. Where does that leave the case? Like, where are we heading towards here? Because he's alleging suicide. Clearly, the government has shown that there was blood in this house. They've put DNA experts to say this was Mamta's blood in the house. How do they distinguish now between the murder and the suicide? Because it becomes a he said, she said, but one person's dead. Pretty shocking that these circumstances and these details did not come out before right now because we're talking about several different hearings, bond hearings, and several different hearings. Leading up to this point, almost two years ago that this all happened, and now we are hearing, again, this bombshell testimony. So you brought up a good point, Marina, about the different charges that are involved in this case. There's the murder trial, and then obviously improper disposal of a body. These are all felonies, but obviously a first-degree murder charge is quite different in terms of the consequences compared to improperly disposing of a body. And if this 12-person jury buys Naresh Bhatt's account of what happened, and ultimately we're We're talking about the 12-person jury, and I believe... I believe there's five alternates. Either way, if they are buying into this account of what Naresh Bhatt says happened, then we're looking at a very different. Potential sentence then obviously if he was found guilty of first degree murder in addition to the other charges. But I want to point out and we're going to have more of this coming up at four and five and six tonight. Mom to his friends pushing back, speaking out immediately. Swift reaction from her supporters saying that Naresh Bhatt is lying. That's their words. They're saying that he's lying and we're going to have much more from them. them and also a criminal defense attorney weighing in on this, this. alarming account of what it is certainly bombshell testimony and you know what the defense tries to do is because the government it's beyond a reasonable doubt is the onus right that first degree murder charge holding up between 20 to 40 years in prison whereas the concealing a dead body and defiling a dead body those are up to five years in prison for those other two charges so a stark contrast right you could potentially be found guilty on those two face up to 10 years versus 40 plus 10. Anyways, I know that there's a lot to break down and we'll check in with those analysts. Tisha, thank you for the updates there as we await the latest from Prince William County and that courtroom where Naresh Bhat continues to testify Stay with us here on the DMV Zone. We'll take a quick break and we'll be right back.