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Russian woman stayed in same cave multiple times, say Karnataka police
The 40-year-old woman was found in the cave on Friday during a routine patrol following a recent landslide that led to police spotting clothes hanging outside the cave.
The Russian woman, who was found living with her two minor daughters in a remote forest cave in Gokarna, had previously stayed in the same cave multiple times, police said on Sunday.
The 40-year-old woman, identified as Nina Kutina alias Mohi, was found in the cave on Friday during a routine patrol, following a recent landslide that led to Circle Police Inspector Sridhar and his team spotting clothes hanging outside the cave.
According to Uttara Kannada superintendent of police M Narayana, Nina told them during interrogation that she had previously stayed in the same cave at least two or three prior occasions “seeking mental peace”.
“This is not a new place to her. She revealed that she has stayed in this cave at least two or three times earlier seeking mental peace. Both her daughters were born in India, the elder is about six-and-half-years old, the youngest is four. She did not provide any details about her husband or the children’s father and refused to talk about him,” SP Narayana said.
On Friday, the officers made their way through the thick shrubs of Ramatirtha Hill and found Mohi and her two children in the cave. Inside, they found Nina using the dim light of a lamp to teach her elder daughter, while her younger child wandered the space unclothed, police said.
Officials described the area as hazardous and prone to landslides and inhabited by king cobras, leopards, and wild boars. “It was dangerous for the children, surrounded by steep slopes and snakes. She claimed she prayed and meditated for spiritual peace there. She was politely convinced and taken away along with her children from the cave,” SP Narayana said.
Mohi arrived in India in 2016 on a business visa, which expired in 2017, and worked at a resort in Goa. Following a fallout there, she left Goa and moved between Nepal and the forests around Gokarna, according to police.
Officials later recovered her passport and visa during a search of the area. “She had overstayed her visa, gone to Nepal, and then returned before repeatedly seeking isolation near Gokarna,” said an official.
The family is currently under the care of the women and children welfare department and temporarily housed at an ashram in Bankikodla village run by Swami Yogaratna Saraswati, an 80-year-old seer.
“They will be handed over to FRRO officers in Bengaluru for further legal action and to contact the Russian Embassy to arrange their safe return to their country,” the SP added.
Officials also confirmed that Mohi had been posting on social media about her life in the forest. Recently, she said: “Our peaceful life in the cave has ended — our cave home destroyed, and we’re now held in a place without sky, grass, or waterfall, sleeping on a cold hard floor, supposedly ‘protected from rain and snakes’...We wish each of you a kind, free, and beautiful life, untouched by the narrow minds and actions of fools.”
