Russian Woman Secretly Lives in an Indian Cave with Her 2 Daughters

Liputan6.com, Jakarta A Russian woman lives in a cave with her two young daughters in a forest near the town of Gokarna in the Indian state of Karnataka.

The woman, Nina Kutina (40), is known to have led an unusual lifestyle for years, moving from the coast to the mountains and from home to a cave.

On Wednesday (July 9), Kutina was found by Police Inspector Sridhar S R while patrolling the Ramateertha hills, an area prone to landslides and inhabited by poisonous snakes.

From behind a red sari curtain covering the cave entrance, the officer found Kutina with her two children, aged 4 and 6 years old.

They lived by candlelight, cooked with a wood-burning stove, and were surrounded by pictures of Hindu deities.

“The cave is a haven for her mindset,” Sridhar said, as quoted by The New York Times.

She added that Kutina refused to be evacuated at night because she wanted to stay and worship in the forest.

After being persuaded and explained the risks of staying in the place, Kutina was finally evacuated to a local women's shelter.

There, she emailed her family in Russian, "Our peaceful life in the cave has ended. Our cave home was destroyed. In all these years of living under the open sky, no snake or animal has ever hurt us."

Based on police investigations and travel documents, Kutina first came to India in 2016 on a six-month business visa and stayed in Goa.

She violated her stay before leaving India in 2018 to travel to Nepal.

In early 2020, she re-entered India on a multi-entry tourist visa, this time accompanied by her two sons and a daughter.

Tragically, her eldest son died in a motorcycle accident last year.

Meanwhile, the whereabouts of his second son, who is now 11 years old, are unknown.

Her six-year-old daughter was born in Ukraine, while her youngest child was born in India.

In Goa, Kutina worked as a teacher of Russian language and literature, and regularly traveled to Gokarna, renowned for its natural beauty and religious sites. Police said she had stayed in the cave at least four times.

“She is the adventurous type, knows a lot about nature,” Sridhar said.

Although she did not cause any disturbance, Kutina's legal status as an unlawfully staying foreigner meant she had to deal with Indian immigration authorities.

On Monday (July 14), she and her two children were taken to the Immigration office in Bengaluru. They are now placed in a detention center pending deportation to Russia.

In a photo shared by local authorities, Kutina is seen sitting cross-legged, brushing her hair on a bench in the waiting room, while her children sit quietly, one of them playing with a cell phone.

The Indian government stated that it will continue to monitor the condition of Kutina and her two children until the repatriation process is complete.