Bengaluru/ Mysuru: Saraswathi alias Padma, the woman from Makanahalli Palya at Periyapatna, who was lodged in a Shimla mental hospital for the past two years, returned to Karnataka last evening. On landing in Bengaluru, she was taken straight to Vidhana Soudha where she found an audience with Chief Minister H.D. Kumaraswamy.  

Padma, who went missing two years ago after her husband abandoned her, was traced at a mental health facility in Shimla in Himachal Pradesh. Padma was lodged at the Himachal Hospital of Mental Health and Rehabilitation in Shimla after she was found roaming in Kangra, about 217 km from the hill station.

At his chambers in Vidhana Soudha, Kumaraswamy felicitated Padma with a shawl, a garland and sweets. Doctors attending to Padma said she had lost her memory but added she could regain it with proper treatment. She will be kept under observation at the State Home for Women at Vijayanagar in Mysuru for 10 days after which the course of diagnosis will be decided, the doctors said.

Padma was not able to even respond when Kumaraswamy enquired about her health. The CM expressed gratitude to doctors and staffers at the Shimla hospital. The Chief Minister also hailed Mysuru Deputy Commissioner Abhiram G. Sankar and officials from the Department of Health and Family Welfare for the quick response. Kumaraswamy said the State government will bear all the medical expenses of Padma till she recovers.

“We are happy that she has come back,” G. Mahadeva, cousin of Saraswathi told reporters. However, Padma won’t be able to live with her parents for another six months as her mother has asked a team of officers to look after her, owing to their poor financial condition.

“She is from a poor family, her father is dead and husband abandoned her. Her house is under-construction. So, her mother has asked us to take care of her for another six months. We’ll admit her in a State Home for women,” said Dr. Manju Prasad, District Mental Health Project Officer and head of team of officers which came to Shimla to receive Padma.