KARWAR, 12 JULY

A spiritually inclined Russian woman and her two young children were rescued from a remote cave nestled in the serene yet treacherous Ramatirtha hills of Kumta taluk in Uttara Kannada district, a police officer said on Saturday.

Police identified the woman as 40-year-old Nina Kutina, who had journeyed from Russia to India on a business visa and found her way to the sacred coastal town of Gokarna via Goa, drawn deeply by the Hinduism and Indian spiritual traditions.

Her children, Preya, 6, and Ama, 4, had accompanied her into the heart of the forest, where they had been living in complete seclusion for nearly two weeks.

It was during a routine patrol on Friday, following a recent landslide that Circle Police Inspector Sridhar and his team spotted clothes hanging outside the cave.

Curious and cautious, the officers made their way through the thick shrubs of Ramatirtha Hill and found Mohi and her two children in the cave.

With the help of a local NGO, the Russian Embassy was contacted and formalities were set in motion to deport her.