Gokarna, India, July 18: An Israeli man is seeking shared custody of his two young daughters after his Russian ex-wife was found living with them in a forest cave in southern India earlier this week, Indian media and officials said.
The woman, Nina Kutina (40), and her daughters Prema (6) and Ama (4) were discovered by police inside a remote cave in the Ramatirtha hills of Gokarna, a coastal town in Karnataka state, on July 11. The trio had reportedly lived in isolation for nearly three weeks before being found during a routine inspection after a landslide.
Kutina’s former partner, Dror Goldstein (38), told PTI Videos on Wednesday that he had lost touch with the children after Kutina left Goa with them a few months ago. He said he filed a missing report at the time and flew to Bengaluru upon learning of their whereabouts.
“I just want to see my daughters a few times a week and take care of them too,” Goldstein said. “If they go to Russia now, it will be much harder to stay in touch with them. I hope they can stay in India.”
Goldstein said he had been living separately from Kutina for the past couple of years but continued to financially support her and spent six months every year in India due to visa constraints and other obligations. He also claimed that Ama was born in India and may qualify as an Indian citizen.
He alleged that Kutina had been unwilling to let him be part of their daughters’ lives. “She told me from the start that if I don’t live with them, I shouldn’t be in touch with them at all,” he said.
Kutina, who has reportedly been living in India for around five years, defended her choice to live in nature and criticised the current shelter conditions where she and her daughters have been placed following their removal from the cave.
“We are now kept in an uncomfortable place. It’s dirty, there’s no privacy, and we get only plain rice to eat,” she told PTI. She also said many of their belongings, including the ashes of her deceased son, were taken.
Authorities are yet to confirm the legal status of the children and whether deportation proceedings will follow. The case has sparked media attention in India, highlighting issues around parental custody, children’s rights, and foreign nationals living off-grid in the country.
