Police have filed a case of attempted murder against the former husband of a 50-year-old American woman who was found tied to a tree with an iron chain in a forest in Maharashtra’s Sindhudurg district, a senior policse official said on Tuesday.
The case was registered based on a note written by the woman at the hospital, detailing her ordeal.
A woman, identified as Lalita Kayi, was found chained to a tree in a forest in the Sonurli village of Sindhudurg district, around 450 km from the Mumbai. She was discovered by a shepherd on Saturday evening after he heard her cries and alerted the police, who found her Aadhaar card with a Tamil Nadu address and a photocopy of her expired US passport, indicating that she had been in India for the past 10 years, as PTI reported.
The woman was moved to a hospital in neighboring Goa for treatment, where doctors noted that she suffers from psychiatric issues. The police also discovered medical prescriptions in her possession.
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“Based on the note written by the woman at the hospital, a case has been registered against her former husband on charges of attempted murder, act endangering life or personal safety of others and wrongful confinement under the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS),” Saurabh Agrawal, Superintendent of Police of Sindhudurg district, said, according to PTI report.
The woman’s statement has not yet been officially recorded. However, following the case registration, police teams have launched an investigation. They are also working to verify her claim that her former husband had chained her. Each claim and detail from her note is being thoroughly examined.
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The recovered prescriptions indicate that she was receiving treatment for a psychiatric illness, and authorities suspect she may have been suffering from schizophrenia.
Police teams are currently in Tamil Nadu and Goa searching for her husband and other relatives.