GOKARNA (UTTARA KANNADA) : The Gokarna police found a 40-year-old Russian woman, living with her two daughters inside a cave infested with lizards and snakes, in the forests of Gokarna in Uttara Kannada recently.
Though her visa had expired in 2018, she had continued to stay in the country. When the police found her, she insisted that she be allowed to continue to stay as she loved India.
On Tuesday, the police from far away saw human presence in a cave amid the mountains of Ramatheertha, half-a-kilometre away from Gokarna. A police team went up to the cave, despite it being a difficult climb, and found a muddy track through the thick forest cover.
The track led to the cave, where the police were greeted by clothes put out to dry, wet mats on the ground and flower decorations. Snakes were slithering around, human footprints were visible, while there were hoof marks too, probably of wild boars.
Russian woman’s visa expired in 2017, got temp extension
The police jumped out of their skin when a white, blonde girl ran out of the cave. “She was about four years old and blonde. The police were scared as they had never expected to see a child half-naked, and barefoot living in a cave there. The girl disappeared into another compartment of the cave, where we found a 40-year-old woman with another child aged around 6 years also barefoot and half-naked,” said Sridhar, station house officer, Gokarna police station.
The woman revealed that she was single mother Nina Kutina, a Russian living there for the last two months with her daughters-- Preya (6) and Ama (4). “She said she liked to there and meditate,” Sridhar said.
The police found an idol of a deity which was adorned with flowers. Nina said she chose the cave as she wanted to be alone and away from the crowds. “She bought fruits, vegetables, bread and other essentials from the market once a week. She taught the children to read, sing and meditate. The trio went to the streams to bathe, and lived a spartan life,” Sridhar said.
Nina did not have any shortage of money as she was financially backed by her relatives.
After much convincing about the cave not being safe for her and her children, she agreed to move out. Nina said the reptiles have become friends.
The family was taken to an ashram in Kumta where they were accommodated temporarily. The police found that her visa expired on April 17, 2017. “Though she got her visa renewed temporarily in 2018 in Goa, that too expired long ago. We have referred them to the Foreigners Regional Registration Office in Bengaluru from where she will be sent back to Russia. She told us that she had lost her passport, but we found it in the cave with the help of forest officials,” he said.
Nina said she liked India a lot and did not want to leave the country. Uttara Kannada SP M Narayan said, “It is a dangerous place as it has witnessed landslides.”
The police found Nina as the Uttara Kannada police have stepped up patrolling. The increased surveillance is because Kanzimoli and Hinduja, students of a medical college in Trichy in Tamil Nadu, died here. The Ramatheertha cave has always been a haven for sadhus and foreigners as it is far from the crowd.
Though many foreign men have been found in Gokarna forests in the past, this is the first time that a woman is seen living in the wild, police said.