Sawantwadi Rescue TeamLalita Kayi Kumar following her rescue from the Indian jungle.
On July 27, 2024, a shepherd working near a jungle in the Sindhudurg district of Maharashtra on India’s west coast discovered a woman chained to a tree.
She was emaciated and appeared to have been left there for quite some time. Authorities identified her as Lalita Kayi Kumar, a 50-year-old American woman who moved to India a decade ago to study yoga and meditation.
Kumar claimed that her former husband had left her for dead in the jungle 40 days prior after an argument. Now, he is facing charges of attempted murder.
A Shepherd Discovers A Woman Chained To A Tree
The shepherd found Kumar after hearing cries for help from the jungle near Goa, India. She was bound to a tree with an iron chain and clearly hadn’t eaten in several days. The man broke her free and immediately alerted the police.
At the scene, emergency responders found the woman’s passport and other documents identifying her as 50-year-old Lalita Kumar. Kumar initially traveled to Tamil Nadu in India to study yoga and meditation more than a decade ago. While there, she met and married a man identified only as Satish.
Kumar was severely malnourished and dehydrated by the time she was found. She was unable to speak and severely weakened from her ordeal. Her right leg was also dangerously swollen from the iron chains.
Sawantwadi Rescue TeamLalita Kayi Kumar claimed she had been chained to a tree for 40 days.
“When we discovered her, she was seriously dehydrated,” said Amol Chavan, an inspector at Sawantwadi Police Station, according to the New York Post. “It appears that she was stuck there for a minimum of 48 hours. Although she was mute.”
However, once medics transported Kumar to the hospital and gave her a pen and paper to write what had happened to her, the horrifying truth came out.
What Happened To Lalita Kayi Kumar?
At Goa Medical College, Lalita Kumar wrote that her former husband had shackled her to the tree following a domestic disturbance.
Kumar’s note read: “Injection for extreme psychosis which causes severe locked jaw and inability to drink any water. Need intravenous food… 40 days without food in forest — husband tied me to a tree in a forest and said I would die there.”
She identified her ex-husband as her assailant, prompting Indian authorities to charge him with attempted murder, endangering the life or personal safety of others, and wrongful confinement.
Sindhudurg District HospitalLalita Kumar couldn’t speak, but she described her ordeal in a note that read, “Husband tied me to a tree in a forest and said I would die there.”
Although Kumar claimed to have been tied up for 40 days, officials believe it is unlikely. With her condition being so severe, however, authorities have struggled to communicate with her.
“She is currently not in a position to talk,” Saurabh Agarwal, the superintendent of police in Sindhudurg, told The Indian Express. “We are trying to get more details about her background.”