Mystery surrounds US woman found starving and chained to tree in India
Mystery surrounds an American woman found chained to a tree, screaming, in a forest in Maharashtra, India. Lalita Kayi, 50, was discovered a week ago in the dense forests of Sindhudurg district after shepherds heard her cries for help. They alerted the police, who sawed off the chain and rescued her.
Ms. Kayi, who appeared emaciated, was taken to a hospital. Her physical health has since improved, and she was moved to a psychiatric facility for further treatment on Friday, according to the doctors treating her.
In a written statement to the police, she alleged that her husband chained her and left her in the forest to die without food or water. The police are searching for her husband in Tamil Nadu based on her information.
Despite her rescue seven days ago, questions remain about her identity, how she ended up in the forest, who chained her, and why.
Pandurang Gawkar, a cow herder who found her, told BBC Marathi that he was grazing his cattle when he heard a woman screaming. He discovered her with one leg tied to a tree, screaming like an animal. He called other villagers and the local police.
The police found a copy of her passport, identifying her as an American citizen, and an Aadhaar card with her home address in Tamil Nadu. She also had a mobile phone, a tablet, and 31,000 rupees ($370; £290) in her possession, ruling out theft as a motive.
Locals say it was fortunate the shepherd chose that spot to graze his flock, as the forest is vast, and she might have gone unheard for days.
Initially, she was taken to a local hospital before being moved to a hospital in Goa. Dr. Shivanand Bandekar, dean of Goa Medical College, told The Indian Express newspaper that she had leg wounds and appeared to suffer from a mental health condition. Her vital signs were stable, despite not knowing how long she had gone without food.
On Friday, her physical health had improved enough for her to be transferred to a psychiatric hospital in Ratnagiri district, Maharashtra.
“Currently, her health is stable,” hospital superintendent Dr Sanghamitra Phule told BBC Marathi.
“She is taking medication, eating, and interacting with people. If she wants something, she can communicate it. She only knows English.”
According to the police, Ms Kayi was a ballet dancer and yoga practitioner in America – some reports say specifically Massachusetts – and moved to India about 10 years ago to study yoga and meditation in Tamil Nadu.
It was there that she met her husband – in some media reports, police have called him Satish. Police say they believe at some point she fell out with her husband.
Some reports say that she stayed in a hotel in Goa for two days and then traveled to Mumbai city, India’s financial capital.
But there is no clarity surrounding when or how she then ended up in the forest where she was discovered last week.
Ms Kayi, who was initially unable to speak, communicated with the police and doctors by scribbling notes on a pad. Through them she blamed her husband for tying her to the tree and claimed that she had gone without food and water for 40 days.
She also claimed that she had been given an “injection for extreme psychosis” which locked her jaw and prevented her from drinking water, and that she had to be provided nutrition intravenously.
“I am a victim and survived. But he ran away from here,” she alleged.
Police say they have been unable to verify these claims and believe it is unlikely that someone would survive without food or water for so long.
They have registered a case of attempted murder against her husband and have dispatched teams to Tamil Nadu, Goa and Maharashtra to investigate the matter further. Her husband is yet to be traced by the police and hasn’t made any statements to the media.
Police say they are also looking for clues in the mobile phone and the tablet they found on the woman.
The US embassy in Delhi – which media reports say has been “exerting pressure on the police to speed up the investigation” – has refused to comment on the case.
A spokesperson told the BBC that it could not respond to inquiries “due to the US Privacy Act”, which governs the dissemination of private information.
