E-Paper
Ex-partner of woman found in Gokarna cave seeks custody of kids
An Israeli man seeks shared custody of his daughters found living in a cave in Karnataka, expressing concern over their potential deportation to Russia.
Days after a 40-year-old Russian woman and her two daughters, aged six and four, were found living inside a cave in the forests of Karnataka’s Gokarna, an Israeli national, claiming to be the girls’ father and the woman’s former partner, on Wednesday said that he would seek shared custody of their daughters and that he would take necessary steps to prevent their deportation.
Dror Goldstein, an Israeli national, said he and his former partner Nina Kutina were living separately, with their daughters residing with the latter in Goa. However, Kutina left Goa with their daughters –– Prema (6) and Ama (4) –– without informing him few months ago. The three were found living in isolation in a cave in Ramatirtha Hills in Gokarna on July 11 during a routine police patrol.
“I didn’t know where they were,” Goldstein said in a televised interview on Wednesday, adding that he had filed a missing persons complaint after failing to contact them.
Goldstein recalled meeting Kutina in Goa around eight years ago and they began a relationship during which they lived together in India and later in Ukraine before they split. “We spent seven months in India together, and then we spent more time in Ukraine,” he said.
After the couple split, Goldstein said, he has been travelling to India for the past four years to maintain a relationship with his daughters.
He said, during this period, he provided financial support. “She has everything they need,” Goldstein said, referring to Kutina’s access to resources for raising the children.
After locating them in Gokarna in XX, the father claimed he visited them, but Kutina restricted his access. “She wouldn’t let me spend time with them, only a little bit; she made it really hard,” he said.
“But now, I want to push for shared custody,” Goldstein was quoted as saying PTI Videos.
Responding to the possibility of deportation, Goldstein said he was deeply concerned about the children being sent to Russia and would take steps to stop it. “It would be hard for me if they will be taken there,” he said.
Authorities have yet to make an announcement regarding the legal status of the woman and her children or any decision related to their residency or deportation.
On Monday, police said that they found Kutina and her two daughters during a routine patrol last week. During questioning, Nina told the police that she was practising meditation and “Hindu rituals” inside the cave.
According to media reports, Kutina overstayed in India on a business visa that expired in 2017, a claim she denied. “
Reports earlier said that Nina’s business visa had expired in 2017, a claim she later denied. We don’t have our valid visa, it has finished. But it was a short time ago, and after 2017, we were already in four countries, and then came back,” Nina told news agency ANI on Monday.
She further defended her decision to live in the cave with her daughters, dismissing suggestions of neglect or danger. “Everything shown on TV about us is false. I have videos and photos that show how clean and happy our life was before,” she told PTI on Tuesday.
With inputs from agencies
