Meditation, snakes & instant noodles: How a Russian woman spent 8 years in Karnataka forests

Most people go off-grid for a weekend. However, Nina Kutina stayed hidden in a cave, deep inside the forests of Karnataka , for nearly eight years.

Living with her two young daughters in a hillside cave near Gokarna, the 40-year-old Russian woman, who now goes by the name Mohi, spent her days meditating, drawing, and surviving on instant noodles. There was no electricity, no phone, and no contact with the outside world. Her daughters had never even seen a bed.

That quiet life came to light last week when local police, during a routine patrol, discovered the family’s home deep inside the forest near Gokarna.

So, how did they end up there? And what happens next? Here’s what we know.

‘Snakes are our friends’

When local police stumbled upon a hidden cave in the treacherous Ramatirtha hills of Kumta taluk on Friday, they found Nina and her two young girls living quietly inside.

Inside, the “spiritually inclined” Russian woman had kept a Rudra idol, Russian books, and photos of Hindu deities, reports The Indian Express.

While they said they had been in that particular cave for two months, police later learned it was part of an eight-year-long journey of living off-grid in India.

“We convinced her to come out, stating that there were chances of landslides in the area,” Gokarna police Sub Inspector Sridhar S R said, adding that when warned about snakes in the area, she replied that “the snakes are our friends and they don’t harm us unless we trouble them”.

She also shared that during their trips to nearby waterfalls to bathe, snakes would often pass by without showing any signs of aggression.

Sridhar told the Indian Express that he had found a lot of photos of Kutina and her kids in her phone. “She had kept a schedule for kids which includes drawing, singing, chanting mantras, yoga and other exercises. Even on Sunday morning, she was teaching her kids yoga,” he said.

During the rainy season, the family lived with minimal clothing and relied mostly on daylight. Although they had candles, they rarely used them, the officer added.

According to Uttara Kannada Superintendent of police M Narayana, the family had been sleeping on plastic sheets and surviving mainly on instant noodles. Kutina had stocked up on enough groceries to get through the monsoon months.

“It’s surprising how she and her children managed to survive in such conditions,” Narayana told Hindustan Times. “Luckily, nothing happened to them during their time in the forest.”

How did police find the Russian woman?

The discovery happened by chance.

Local police were on a routine patrol in the Ramatirtha forest area following a recent landslide when they noticed pieces of cloth and plastic sheets near a hillside cave. Curious, they climbed up and were stunned to find a woman and two young children living in complete isolation.

“Our team saw sarees and other clothes hanging outside the cave to dry,” said Uttara Kannada SP M Narayana. “When they went closer, they found Mohi (Nina Kutina) with her daughters.”

At first, Kutina claimed her passport and visa had been lost in the forest. But officers later recovered the documents from near the cave.

They learned she had arrived in India in 2016 on a business visa, which expired a year later. After connecting with spiritual communities in Goa and Gokarna, she chose not to return home. Instead, she began living off-grid—mostly in forests, caves, and remote areas—avoiding hotels and public spaces for fear of being discovered.

“She told us she loved meditating and doing pooja in the forest,” one officer told The Indian Express. “She said the forest gave her peace.”

In 2018, she briefly visited Nepal before returning and settling again in the forests of Karnataka. During questioning, she shared that she had stayed in the same cave on two or three previous occasions, always seeking mental calm.

Her daughters—aged around six-and-a-half and four—were both born in India. Officials said they appeared physically healthy and mentally alert. However, Kutina refused to provide any details about her husband or the children’s father, only saying she didn’t wish to talk about him.

After persuading the trio to leave the cave, police arranged for them to spend the night at a nearby ashram run by an 80-year-old female Swamiji from the Shankara Prasad Foundation. Officers said the children were visibly excited to see electricity and sleep on proper beds—luxuries they had never experienced before.

What’s next?

The following morning, Sub-Inspector Sridhar received a WhatsApp message from Kutina, written in Russian. In it, she expressed sadness over being separated from the forest.

“She wrote that she loved India, the forests, and meditation,” Sridhar said. “She felt heartbroken and blamed us for taking her away from nature.”

Kutina and her daughters have now been placed in a women’s shelter for their safety, while legal steps for their deportation have begun.

According to The Indian Express, lawyer Sahana Basavapatna, who has dealt with similar immigration cases, explained that deportations often stall due to funding issues. In most cases, neither the Indian government nor the person’s home country pays for the return travel. Many end up stuck in detention centres until they can arrange the money themselves.

However, in rare cases involving nationals from countries considered security risks, the Indian government may fund the deportation to speed up the process.

Kutina’s expired visa makes her an illegal immigrant, and since her children were born during her undocumented stay, they aren’t eligible for Indian citizenship either.

Officials said that Kutina and her daughters will appear before the Foreigners Regional Registration Office (FRRO) in Bengaluru on July 14. A woman police officer will escort them during the proceedings.

“They will be handed over to FRRO officers for further action and to initiate contact with the Russian Embassy,” SP Narayana confirmed.

With input from agencies