In a startling revelation, Lalita Kayi Kumar, the 50-year-old American woman discovered chained to a tree in the Sindhudurg district of Maharashtra, India, has confessed to authorities that she shackled herself. The incident, which gained international attention, saw Kumar found filthy and severely emaciated last month in the jungle.
After several days of treatment in a psychiatric facility, Kumar revealed that she had tied herself up while likely hallucinating. Initially, she had presented investigators with a note alleging that her husband abandoned her to die. However, Kumar later clarified that she was not married and had chained herself to the tree due to distress over her expired visa and dwindling financial resources.
Kumar was too weak to speak when first discovered and had handed the police a handwritten note accusing her fictitious spouse of leaving her without food or water for 40 days. Nearly two weeks after her rescue, Dr. Sanghamitra Phule, the superintendent of the psychiatric hospital where she is being treated, reported that Kumar’s condition is improving. “She eats, walks, and also exercises. She is under treatment and we are also giving her some nutrients that her body was lacking,” Dr. Phule explained.
Kumar’s family in the United States has been contacted, and she has been in touch with them over the phone. Kumar is believed to have moved to India approximately ten years ago to study yoga, according to earlier reports.
The distressing scene was discovered by a shepherd who heard her cries for help. “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 recounted to the BBC.
Police found Kumar with a copy of her U.S. passport, indicating she was from Massachusetts, and documents linking her to an address in Tamil Nadu. Additionally, she had a mobile phone, a tablet, and 31,000 rupees (approximately $370) in her possession.
The U.S. embassy declined to comment on the case, citing Kumar’s right to privacy.
This perplexing case has left many questions unanswered as authorities continue their investigation into the circumstances that led to Kumar’s desperate actions and her time in the jungle.
Credit: New York Post
