A 50-year-old American woman, Lalita Kayi, was found chained to a tree in India’s Sindhudurg district. Kayi, discovered by a shepherd in Sonurli village, was left without food for 40 days. She was rescued, and police were alerted.
Lalita’s cries were heard by a local cattle herder in Sonurli village, who followed the sound and found her with her leg bound by an iron chain, leaving it swollen. The shepherd immediately alerted the authorities. Kayi was given first aid and transferred to the hospital for emergency treatment.
Police believe she was chained by her husband following a domestic dispute. After being found, she received first aid and was admitted to a healthcare center before being transferred to a more advanced facility in Sindhudurg’s Oros.
Upon her rescue, officials recovered several documents from her possession, including a photocopy of her US passport and an Aadhaar card listing an address in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu.
Preliminary investigations suggest that Kumar has been residing in India for the past ten years. Police teams have been dispatched to the Indian states of Tamil Nadu, Goa, and other locations to trace her relatives and gather more information.
Doctors noted she appeared to have psychiatric issues and communicated with them by writing about her health problems. She claimed she had been without food for 40 days and that her husband had abandoned her in the forest after an argument.
Ongoing investigation
No FIR has been registered yet, but a probe is underway. A police official stated that the woman was too weak to give a statement, having not eaten for several days and enduring heavy rains.
“The woman is not in a position to give her statement. The woman is weak as she has not eaten anything for a couple of days and also as the area experienced heavy rains. We don’t know for how long she was tied to that tree. She reportedly left her husband after a quarrel,” the official said.
