New Delhi: Days after Russian national Nina Kutina and her two young daughters were found living in a remote cave on the forested Ramatirtha hills near Gokarna, their father and estranged partner, Israeli national Dror Goldstein, has revealed he was unaware of their whereabouts and has now moved to seek shared custody. Goldstein, 38, who divides his time between Go+a and abroad, travelled to Tumakuru to meet his daughters—Prema, 6, and Ama, 4—currently held in a government facility, but was refused entry to the Foreign Detention Centre due to a lack of written clearance from the Foreigners Registration Office .
Goldstein told ANI that he last saw Kutina and their children months ago on Gokarna’s main beach and had no inkling they had taken up residence in a cave. “I didn’t know she was living in a cave, I knew she was in Gokarna,” he said, describing his three-hour journey from Bengaluru and subsequent wait at the detention centre, only to be told to return the following day with official permission.
Expressing fear of losing contact if the girls are deported, Goldstein said he does not wish to separate them from their mother but wants to ensure they “have proper education, are healthy and happy” through shared custody arrangements. He noted that Ama was born in India and has lived here all her life, and insisted his priority is to remain close to his children, even if that means going “wherever they are.”
Kutina, 40, was discovered on July 11 after police conducting a landslide-safety patrol stumbled upon her rudimentary cave dwelling, where she and her daughters had reportedly lived in solitude for nearly three weeks. Authorities have cited safety concerns and her long-expired visa—last valid in 2017—as grounds for her detention and impending deportation, although Kutina has defended her choice of a forest life and voiced dissatisfaction with conditions in state-run shelters.
