‘It’s a very big and beautiful cave – they were happy’

Indian police were making routine patrols in dense jungle when they encountered a Russian woman and her daughters

- SHWETA SHARMA

In the monsoon-drenched forests of a coastal town in southern India known for its lush hills and spiritual retreats, a Russian

woman was found living off-grid in a cave with her two small daughters, without electricity or modern amenities.

Police officers patrolling the slippery trails of Ramteertha Hills in India’s Karnataka state stumbled upon an unusual sight earlier this month when they saw a cave curtained with a cloth and a little blonde girl running out barefoot from a hole in the mountain.

The woman, identified as Nina Kutina, 40, had made a home deep in the woods with her daughters, aged five and six, police said. The family had no valid visas and was undocumented in the country.

Police officer Sridhar SR confirmed the family had been residing in the cave for over a week.

Authorities are now arranging for Kutina’s repatriation to Russia, as she had overstayed her visa. She and her daughters have been transferred to a detention facility, near the state capital Bengaluru, for foreign nationals living in India illegally.

Kutina has defended her decision to live in the wild with her daughters and said they were healthy and happy in the forest. Kutina’s case has since snowballed into a tale of adventure, parental rights, bureaucracy and international legal hurdles.

Forest dwelling discovered by chance

Authorities had ramped up forest patrols in the Gokarna forest bordering tourist hotspot Goa due to landslide risks in the area and it was one of these patrols that found the dwelling on 9 July. The cave lay within the jungle.

Kutina was reluctant to leave the cave as officers tried to warn her about the dangers of living in the wild. “It is nothing but her love for adventure that brought her here,” Sridhar SR said.