An American woman found chained to a tree in a forest in western India has now admitted that she tied herself up, just days after blaming her “husband” for her ordeal.

Lalita Kayi Kumar, 50, was discovered by a cowherd on July 27 in a dense forest in Sindhudurg, about 450 kilometers from India’s financial capital Mumbai.

She was found tied up and emaciated after the cowherd heard “a woman screaming loudly” and raised the alarm. She “screamed like an animal,” he reported.

Ms Kayi told police she had not had any food or water for several days. She was so weak that she could not speak and was writing down what she wanted to say on a notepad.

After being admitted to a psychiatric clinic in Goa, the woman allegedly wrote to the police that her husband had chained her in the forest and left her there “without food or water”.

“Injection for extreme psychosis resulting in severe jaw lock and inability to drink water. Need intravenous nutrition, 40 days without food in the forest,” she wrote, according to The Indian Express.

“My husband tied me to a tree in the forest and said I would die there.”

Ms Kayi has now stated that she is unmarried and has tied herself up, police and doctors told the BBC.

Sindhudurg Police Commissioner Saurabh Agarwal claimed that the woman was suffering from severe psychosis and was hallucinating when she gave her statement.

Ms Kayi reportedly told investigators that she bought the chains and locks and tied herself to the tree because she had no money and was under stress because her visa had expired.

Her condition is improving, said Dr. Sanghamitra Phule, head of the psychiatric clinic. “She is eating, walking and also exercising. She is undergoing treatment and we are also giving her some nutrients that her body was lacking,” she told the BBC.

Dr Phule said Ms Kayi’s family had been traced in the US and she was in touch with them.

After Ms. Kayi was rescued, police found a copy of a passport in her bag that showed she was a U.S. citizen from Massachusetts.

They also found documents linking them to an address in the southern Indian state of Tamil Nadu, as well as a mobile phone, a tablet and 31,000 rupees (£290).

The police do not yet know how long she was tied up in the forest. “It was raining heavily in the area where she was found,” said Mr Agrawal.

Police officer Amol Chavan, who was part of the team that rescued her, said it appeared she had been there for at least two days.

“When we found her, she was severely dehydrated. It appears she had been stuck there for at least 48 hours. However, she was mute,” he said.

Ms Kayi initially told police that she had come to India to learn yoga and meditation. She was married to a man from Tamil Nadu, but the two had fallen out, she claimed.

Police in Maharashtra subsequently launched an attempted murder investigation against Ms Kayi’s alleged “husband”.

It is believed that she has been living in the country for 10 years. Hindustan Newspaper was reported citing local police.