Produced by: Manoj Kumar
In the forests of Karnataka, a Russian woman and her daughters lived undetected in a cave for years, dodging authorities, befriending snakes, and surviving on candlelight and silence.
After her business visa expired in 2017, Kutina vanished into India's wilderness—birthing two children in hiding and avoiding every system built to track her down.
To most, venomous snakes are danger incarnate. To Kutina, they were guardians of the cave—slithering silently around her daughters during daily waterfall baths.
Both girls were born in exile—far from hospitals or midwives. The forest was their delivery room. Authorities still don’t know if she had any medical help at all.
Once enchanted by Goa’s tourist buzz, Kutina traded beach shacks for jungle seclusion. Her escape wasn’t a panic—this was a deliberate, spiritual withdrawal.
She owned a phone, but rarely used it—charging it during brief town visits to buy groceries. Digital footprints? Practically none. A modern ghost in the system.
Instead of passports and hotels, she leaned on pooja rituals and forest meditation. Her cave wasn’t a shelter—it was a shrine carved by conviction and fear.
Sub-inspector Sridhar said he’d “never seen a mother” live like this. Yet Kutina seemed composed—children healthy, mind clear. Was this madness or mastery?
Now detained, Kutina mourns the sky. “Our cozy comfortable house was broken,” she wrote, describing her cave as paradise and her cell as a soulless cage.