A 50-year-old American woman who was found chained to a tree deep in the heart of India has made a startling confession just days after she claimed she was left to die by her husband.
In a tale that seems straight out of a mystery novel, a woman named Lalita Kayi Kumar was discovered in chains last month in the Sindhudurg jungle, located in the central Indian state of Maharashtra.
The U.S. citizen, who came from Massachusetts, was found filthy, severely undernourished, and in a dire state.
Lalita Kayi Kumar, 50, was found chained to a tree last month in the Sindhudurg jungle in Maharashtra, India
Image credits: India Today
The US woman who was found tied to a tree with an iron chain
in a forest in Maharashtra’s Sindhudurg district is not able to record her statement with the police
as she is weak and has not eaten anything in a couple of days.
woman has been in India for the past 10 years. pic.twitter.com/j4RH58B8fa
— Dr.Jyoti S Patel 🇮🇳 (@DrJyoti_S_PATEL) July 30, 2024
She was rescued on July 27 after a cow herder in the area heard “a woman screaming loudly” and raised the alarm.
“The sound was coming from the forest on the side of the mountain. When I went there, I saw that one of her legs was tied to a tree. She was screaming like an animal. I called other villagers and the local police,” the witness told BBC.
Her chain was sawed off by the police, who took her to the hospital to receive treatment.
When she was first found, Lalita was too weak to speak and had presented a handwritten note to the authorities, claiming her husband had abandoned her to die without food or water for 40 days.
The woman, who came from Massachusetts, wrote a sinister note that said her husband tied her up and left her to die
#Goa : An #American woman, married to a local man, was found chained to a tree in a forest for 40 days, starved, and given injections.
She’s now in critical condition after being rescued by police.
The husband is on the run, and #Sawantwadi police are searching for him. pic.twitter.com/30qtuQ0tJL
— South Asian Chronicles (@SAChroniclesX) July 30, 2024
“I am a crime victim,” she alleged in the note.
Her claims were questioned as investigators did not believe it was possible for someone to survive so long without food and water. Police also found a copy of her passport with her, along with a mobile phone, tablet, and 31,000 Indian Rupees ($370). They, hence, ruled out the possibility of the incident being a theft.
They also found that her Aadhaar card, which is a unique ID card for Indians. The card mentioned that her address was in Tamil Nadu, a completely different state in South India.
After receiving treatment for a few days, the middle-aged woman admitted she was never married and had tied herself up to the tree
The woman who chained HERSELF to a tree pic.twitter.com/rwil0ZqHLM
— Daily Mail Online (@MailOnline) August 7, 2024
Her sinister note, which claimed her husband had chained her to the tree and abandoned her there, later proved to be false and was possibly a product of her hallucinations.
In reality, the U.S. citizen admitted that she was not married and had chained herself because she was distressed over her visa expiration and from running out of cash.
Lalita continues to show improvement, and her family in the U.S. have been informed of her condition.
“She eats, walks and also exercises. She is under treatment and we are also giving her some nutrients that her body was lacking,” Dr Sanghamitra Phule, superintendent of the psychiatric hospital where she is admitted, told the outlet.
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