Missing Mother Mamta Bhatt ‘Cried for Help,’ Colleague Says. Now Husband Arrested (Exclusive)

Mamta Kafle Bhatt, 28, was reported missing on August 5 by her husband Naresh Bhatt.

• Mamta Kafle Bhatt disappeared after she was last seen at work on July 27, police say

• Weeks later, her husband Naresh Bhatt was arrested on charges of concealing a body

• Virginia authorities say they found evidence of a body being dragged outside Mamta and Naresh’s home

It was Virginia nurse Mamta Kafle Bhatt’s daughter’s first birthday celebration at their Manassas Park, Virginia, home, which was decorated with colorful balloons, gift bags and stuffed animals. But the child’s father and Mamta’s husband, Naresh Bhatt, forbade anyone to take pictures.

Prabha Bhattarai Deuja, 53, felt restless at the August 20 party.

“I felt a surge and decided, no, this energy is not right in this house,” Deuja, a social activist, tells PEOPLE.

Deuja was one of many others who attended the party not only for the child, but also for Mamta, who had been missing for almost a month.

Bhatt, a 28-year-old Nepalese woman, was reported missing on Aug. 5, several days after her absence from work prompted a welfare check by local police, Manassas Park police said earlier.

On Aug. 22, two days after the child’s birthday party, Manassas Park authorities arrested Naresh on a misdemeanor charge of concealing a body. They allege that Naresh killed Mamta on July 30 and dragged her body outside, according to a criminal complaint viewed by PEOPLE. (Bhatt has not been charged with murder. He has entered a plea, and his attorney did not respond to multiple requests for comment.)

Friends of Mamta, who met on social media and during peace vigils outside the local police station, now say something was wrong in the medical-surgical nurse’s three-year marriage.

Sunita Basnet, a friend and former mentor of Mamta, recalls several incidents that indicated that Mamta was struggling.

In February, Mamta came to work with a bruise on her face, Basnet tells PEOPLE. When she offered her a place to sleep and shared her resources, Mamta briefly accepted, but later said she wanted to give her marriage a second chance.

“She was screaming for help. For whatever reason, she didn’t have the strength or didn’t feel like it was the right time to leave,” nurse and former colleague Holly Wirth, who regularly appears at Mamta’s support rallies, tells PEOPLE.

Related: Husband of Missing Nurse Mamta Kafle Bhatt Searched for ‘How Long’ to Marry ‘When Husband Dies’: Prosecutors

From her friends’ stories, it appears that Mamta continued to seek help.

Earlier this year, Mamta sought help at a support group for single mothers and divorced women, WUSA 9, the Washington Post and WTOP report.

In a screenshot of the post shared on Facebook and seen by PEOPLE, a woman named Mamta appears to be asking for help, saying she is “in the process of getting a divorce.”

“He says if I leave the baby with him, he will send the child to custody. Is that possible?” she asks in the post, alleging that Naresh has not helped with childcare.

Related: Husband of Va mother who disappeared in July begged for her safe return, he was just led away in handcuffs

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Now, as the investigation continues more than a month after her disappearance, Mamta’s mother and brother are caring for the child Mamta tried to protect. Her friends and supporters continue to show up at court and at her wake.

“It’s for justice. And it’s very important that we’re there, supporting her,” Deuja says. “She had no voice. We have to be her voice.”

If you are experiencing domestic violence, call the National Domestic Violence Hotline at 1-800-799-7233, or visit thehotline.org. All calls are free and confidential. The hotline is available 24/7 in more than 170 languages.

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