Modern Mysteries

Mystery surrounds starving US woman found tied to a tree in India

By T.K. Randall
August 4, 2024

Image: Leaf Forest
Credit: Den Vish / CC BY-SA 4.0 (adapted) Police are currently investigating the peculiar case of an American woman - Lalita Kayi - who was discovered chained up to a tree in the middle of a forest in the Indian state of Maharashtra.

Exhausted, emaciated and starving hungry, the woman alleged that her husband had "chained her and left her in the forest to die without food or water".

Upon being rescued, she was quickly taken to a local hospital where doctors were able to determine that she was also suffering from mental health issues.

Initially unable to speak, she communicated by writing on a piece of paper.

She also claimed to have been given an injection for psychosis that left her unable to close her mouth and prevented her from being able to drink anything.

"Currently, her health is stable," hospital superintendent Dr Sanghamitra Phule told the BBC."She is taking medication, eating, and interacting with people. If she wants something, she can communicate it. She only knows English."

It turned out that the woman was a former ballet dancer and yoga practitioner who had moved from the US to India to study yoga and meditation around 10 years ago.

Her husband, who she met there, is now a person of interest in the case.

Questions still remain, however, as to how and when she had ended up tied to a tree in the forest.

Investigations into the case are still ongoing.

Update: In bizarre twist, starving woman tied HERSELF to a tree in India

Source: BBC News

Tags: India