Indian police find Russian woman living in cave with her young children

Police in India’s southern Karnataka state have found a Russian woman and her two young daughters living in a remote forest cave.

Nina Kutina, 40, and her daughters, aged six and four, were found by police during a routine patrol to Ramatirtha Hill, a popular tourist site on the coast of Karnataka, on July 9.

Police officer Sridhar SR said the family had been living in the cave for more than a week.

Police said they were taking steps to repatriate Ms Kutina to Russia for overstaying her visa. She and her children have been moved to a nearby detention facility for foreigners living illegally in India.

A spokesperson said that Ms Kutina spent her time in the cave meditating by candlelight, and that she told investigating officers she was “interested in staying in the forest and worshipping God”.

Mr Sridhar said Ms Kutina told police that she had worked as a tutor of Russian language in Goa, a coastal tourist state in southern India.

“It is nothing but her love for adventure that brought her here,” said Mr Sridhar.

He said police found pictures of Hindu deities on the inside walls of the cave where Ms Kutina had been living. In a photograph provided by the police, she is seen in front of makeshift curtains made of red saris that covered the entrance to the cave.

Police said Ms Kutina sent a message to her friends after she was found.

“Our peaceful life in the cave has ended — our cave home destroyed,” she wrote in the message, according to the statement.

On Tuesday, she told news agency Press Trust of India that she spent her days in the cave by painting, singing, reading books, and living peacefully with her children.