An American woman who was found chained to a tree in the Indian jungle had chained herself, police have revealed.
Lalita Kayi Kumar, 50, was found in a dense forest near Sonurli village, about 280 miles from Mumbai, about 10 days ago after being found dead. A local pastor heard their anguished cries for help.
She was taken to a local hospital where she scribbled a message detailing some of her ordeal, including accusing her “husband” of leaving her in the woods for 40 days.
Kumar, who is undergoing treatment at a psychiatric facility, has now admitted that she is not married and was probably suffering from hallucinations when she gave her statement to authorities, police said. BBC.
She also reportedly told investigators that she bought the padlocks and chain and chained herself to the tree after becoming “distressed” because her visa had expired and she was running out of money.
Lalita Kayi Kumar, 50, was found tied to a tree in a dense forest near Sonurli village, about 280 miles from Mumbai, about 10 days ago.
A local cattle herder found Kumar, who appeared emaciated, on July 27 after hearing “a woman screaming loudly” from inside the forest.
“When I went there, I saw that he had one leg tied to a tree,” his rescuer recalls. “He was screaming like an animal. I called other neighbours and the local police.”
Police cut the chain and carried her out of the woods on a stretcher. She was taken to a local hospital where she was treated for various problems, including dehydration, and then transferred to a psychiatric facility.
At first, Kumar was unable to speak, but he communicated with police and his doctors by writing on a notepad.
Footage from inside the hospital shows Kumar writing a note about her condition in which she claimed that her ex-husband had abandoned her in the forest believing her dead following a domestic dispute. She also claimed that she had not eaten in 40 days.
According to the BBC, investigators had been sceptical of Kumar’s story because it is “unlikely” that someone could survive going almost a month without food or water.
Police recovered a photocopy of her passport, which indicated she was a US citizen from Massachusetts, and a national identity card revealing her residential address in Tamil Nadu, at the scene.
He also had in his possession a mobile phone, a tablet and 31,000 rupees ($370).
Authorities have located his family in the United States and Kumar is believed to have communicated with them by phone.
Dr Sanghamitra Phule, superintendent of the hospital where Kumar is currently being treated, says his “condition is improving”.
She is eating, walking and exercising, and getting “some nutrients that her body was lacking.”