India. BBC: Mysterious case of American woman chained to tree

The BBC reported that Lalita Kayi, 50, was found in late July in the dense forests of Sindhudurg district after a shepherd heard her cries for help. They alerted the police, who sawed off the chain and rescued the emaciated woman. She was taken to hospital and has since recovered.

In a written statement to police, the American woman accused her husband of “chaining her and leaving her in the forest to die without food or water.” The man is wanted in the southern state of Tamil Nadu India based on the information provided by the finder.

There are many unanswered questions in this situation. Pandurang Gawkar, a cowherd who found her, told the BBC that he took his cattle to graze in the forest when he heard “a loud scream of a woman”.

“The sound came from the forest on the mountainside. When I went there, I saw that one of her legs was tied to a tree,” said the man, who alerted residents of a nearby village and the local police.

The police said they found a copy of the woman's passport, which showed that she was a citizen USAand an Aadhaar card – an Indian identity document containing a home address in Tamil Nadu.

Robbery was ruled out as the American woman had a cellphone, tablet and 31,000 rupees (over $370) with her.

Dr Shivanand Bandekar of the hospital where the injured woman was taken told The Indian Express that the woman had wounds on her leg and appeared to be suffering from mental problems. “We do not know how long she had not eaten, but her vital signs are stable,” he added.

The woman who was found was a ballet dancer years ago. She moved to India about 10 years ago to study yoga and meditation in Tamil Nadu. It was there that she met her husband, with whom she had recently had a fight.

According to the BBC, the American woman recently appeared in the western Indian city of Goa and then traveled to Mumbai. It is not clear when or how she ended up in the forest.