The American woman who was found shackled in a jungle in India clung to life for forty days without food before a local shepherd happened upon her and alerted authorities.
Lalita Kayi Kumar, 50, a US citizen, was found with her passport as well as other identifying documents including an expired Indian passport. She was rushed to a local hospital for urgent treatment.
It’s believed that the woman has lived in India for the past 10 years with her husband, named as Satish in a report by India Today. He is believed to be the focus of the police investigation and was named in an official report on Tuesday.
Kumar, who is currently unable to speak due to her ordeal, wrote in part in a letter from her hospital bed: ‘Husband tied me to a tree in a forest.’
According to the India Today report, several people have already been questioned in relation to the case with the investigation stretching outside of the Sindhudburg district, where Kumar was found.
Lalita Kumar wrote in a letter from her hospital bed that she was left stranded for 40 days
Initial reports indicate that the authorities are looking at the possibility that the woman’s husband had something to do with the incident
Kumar located in a forest near Sonurli village, roughly 280miles from Mumbai, on Saturday morning. She had been tied to a tree with an iron chain.
Her right leg was swollen from the chain. She was severely dehydrated, unable to speak and likely had not eaten in several days, the Lokmat Times reported.
Police have launched an attempted murder case against Satish. He also faces act endangering life or personal safety of others and wrongful confinement charges.
A cattle herder found Kumar near Sawantwadi on Saturday morning after he heard loud noises coming from within the dense forest.
Police arrived at the scene and used a cutter to break the chain and freed her from the tree. She was rushed to a primary healthcare center in Sawantwadi, where she received initial treatment.
Kumar was later transferred to a more advanced facility for continued treatment.
Footage recorded from inside the hospital showed Kumar writing a note about her condition in which she claimed her former husband had left her in the forest after a domestic dispute. She also alleged to have not eaten in over a month.
‘She is out of danger,’ a police official told The Telegraph Online. ‘Doctors treating her said she suffers from psychiatric problems. We have found medical prescriptions in her possession.’
The woman was found tied to a tree, emaciated, by a cattle herder. The woman said her husband left her there after a domestic dispute
She was quickly rushed to a local hospital where she was treated for various issues including dehydration
‘She is out of danger,’ a police official told The Telegraph Online
Officials say Kumar is doing ‘fine’, but remains under observation and is ‘suffering from psychiatric issues’. She is reportedly ‘weak’ and ‘not in a position to give her statement’ to police at this time.
Kumar was born in the US but had been living in Goa, a neighboring state to where she was found, was ‘some time’. Officials are trying to determine who she has been in touch wife over the past few months.
It is believed that Kumar, who was married to a man from the south Indian state of Tamil Nadu, the same area where Vice President Kamala Harris’ mother is from, had been living in India for at least a decade.
Authorities recovered a photocopy of her US passport and her national identity card from the scene. Officials also said her ‘visa has expired’.
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