Sawantwadi Rescue TeamLalita Kayi Kumar following her rescue from the Indian jungle.

On July 27, 2024, a shepherd working near a jungle in the Sindhudurg district of Maharashtra on India’s west coast discovered a woman chained to a tree.

She was emaciated and appeared to have been left there for quite some time. Authorities identified her as Lalita Kayi Kumar, a 50-year-old American woman who moved to India a decade ago to study yoga and meditation.

Kumar claimed that her former husband had left her for dead in the jungle 40 days prior after an argument. Now, he is facing charges of attempted murder.

The shepherd found Kumar after hearing cries for help from the jungle near Goa, India. She was bound to a tree with an iron chain and clearly hadn’t eaten in several days. The man broke her free and immediately alerted the police.

At the scene, emergency responders found the woman’s passport and other documents identifying her as 50-year-old Lalita Kumar. Kumar initially traveled to Tamil Nadu in India to study yoga and meditation more than a decade ago. While there, she met and married a man identified only as Satish.

Kumar was severely malnourished and dehydrated by the time she was found. She was unable to speak and severely weakened from her ordeal. Her right leg was also dangerously swollen from the iron chains.