A 50-year-old US woman was found tied to a tree with an iron chain in a forest in Maharashtra's Sindhudurg district, and a photocopy of her US passport as well as other documents, including an Aadhaar card with a Tamil Nadu address, were recovered from her, a police official on Monday.
A shepherd heard her cries on Saturday evening in Sonurli village, some 450 kilometres from Mumbai, and alerted police after finding her chained and in distress, the official said. "The woman was rushed to a hospital in Sawantwadi (in the state's Konkan region) and then Oros in Sindhudurg. Considering her mental and health condition, she was shifted to Goa Medical College for advanced treatment. She is out of danger. Doctors treating her said she suffers from psychiatric problems. We have found medical prescriptions in her possession," the official informed
Photocopy of US passport found from woman's pocket
"We found her Aadhaar card with a Tamil Nadu address and a photocopy of her United States of America passport. She has been identified as Lalita Kayi. Her visa has expired. We are getting all these documents verified to ascertain her nationality. Police are also in touch with the Foreigners Regional Registration office," he said.
According to the victim, she had married a Tamil Nadu man who injected her and left her in the jungle. Although she was not in the position to share further details, she claimed that she had been tied to a tree some 40 days ago. Besides of other documents, police also recovered a ration card from the site.
As per initial information obtained by police, the woman has been in India for the past 10 years, the official said. "The woman is not in a position to give her statement. The woman is weak as she has not eaten anything for a couple of days and also as the area experienced heavy rains. We don't know for how long she was tied to that tree. We believe her husband, who hails from Tamil Nadu, tied her there and fled," he said.
The official said police teams have left for Tamil Nadu, Goa and some other places to trace her relatives etc as part of the probe.
(With inputs from agency)
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