A 50-year-old woman was found chained to a tree in Maharashtra’s Sindhudurg district. A photocopy of her US passport and other documents, including an Aadhaar card with a Tamil Nadu address, were recovered from her.
The police believe she may have been there for nearly 48 hours before a shepherd heard her cries and alerted them on Saturday evening in Sonurli village.
“The woman was rushed to a hospital in Sawantwadi in the Konkan region and then to Oros in Sindhudurg. Considering her mental and physical condition, she was shifted to Goa Medical College for advanced treatment. She is out of danger. Doctors treating her have indicated she suffers from psychiatric problems, and we found medical prescriptions in her possession,” the official stated, PTI reported.
The police have recovered a photocopy of her US passport and an Aadhaar card that identifies her as Lalita Kayi and carries a Tamil Nadu address.
“We are verifying all these documents to confirm her nationality. The police are also in contact with the Foreigners Regional Registration Office,” he added.
According to initial information obtained by the police, the woman has been in India for the past 10 years.
“The woman is not in a position to give her statement. She is weak, having not eaten for several days, and the area experienced heavy rains. We don’t know how long she was tied to that tree. We believe her husband, who hails from Tamil Nadu, tied her there and fled,” he said.
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An officer said the police also found in her bag a note in which she had scribbled “my former husband”. “We have found that the woman, who appears to have been born in the US, had also resided in Goa for some time. We are trying to find out whom she was in touch with in the past few months,” an officer said, Indian Express reported.
Police teams have been dispatched to Tamil Nadu, Goa, and other places to trace her relatives as part of the investigation.
(With inputs from PTI)
