Husband of US national rescued from Sindhudurg forest booked

MUMBAI: The Sindhudurg police on Tuesday booked the husband of the 50-year-old US national who was found shackled to a tree in a forested area in the district on July 27. The FIR was registered after the woman claimed that her husband had taken her to the forest and chained her to the tree.
While in hospital, the woman, who was unable to speak, wrote a note giving information about herself to the police. She claimed that her husband had shackled her to the tree and that she had been living without food and water in the forest for 40 days. ‘Injection for extreme psychosis which caused severe locked jaw and inability to drink any water. Need intravenous food…40 days without food in the forest—husband tied me to a tree in a forest and said I would die there,’ said her note.
Based on the revelations, the Banda police in Sindhudurg have registered an FIR under Sections 109 (attempt to murder) 125 (act endangering human life or personal safety of others) 127 (2) (wrongful confinement) and 127 (6) (wrongful confinement in secret) of the Bharatiya Nyay Sanhita. A police team has been trying to verify the woman’s accusations.
“Different teams have been dispatched to various states to investigate the crime, and a separate team is undertaking the technical investigation,” said a senior IPS officer.
The incident came to light on July 27 after a local from Sawantwadi taluka, who had taken his sheep and cows into a forested area, met with an alarming sight—a woman chained to a tree with an iron shackle. The panicky man immediately informed the Banda police, which rushed to the spot to rescue her.
The woman was a United States citizen identified as Lalita Kai who claimed to be married to a man from Tamil Nadu and said she was living in India for around a decade. “Her bag was with her, and it contained all her personal identification documents like a photocopy of her US passport and her Aadhar card,” said a police official who is part of the investigating team. “It also contained a raincoat and foodstuff.”
A police team has gone to Tamil Nadu to verify the address which is mentioned on the US citizen’s Aadhar card as well as to verify her allegations against her husband.
The woman was given basic treatment in the Primary Health Centre, Sawantwadi and then admitted to the District Hospital, Sindhudurg. After that, she was shifted to a government hospital in Goa and then to the Institute of Psychiatry and Human Behaviour (IPHB) at Bambolim in Goa since she appeared to be suffering from a mental health condition, said Dr Shivanand Bandekar, the dean of Goa Medical College, who is also in charge of IPHB.
“A board is meeting on Tuesday to assess her mental health and check if there is any past history of mental illness,” he said. “On the medical side, she is stable as of now. She is not in a position to speak or give a statement and is only communicating through writing.”
The spot where the woman was found is almost four km from the nearest villages, Ronapal and Sonurli, which fall in Sawantwadi taluka of Sindhudurg district. Locals often take their cows and cattle to the forest during the day. The local who found the woman was led to the spot by faint cries, which turned into screams for help after she espied him.
(With inputs from Gerard de Souza in Goa)