A week after police in Karnataka’s Uttara Kannada district discovered a Russian woman and her two daughters living in a forest cave, the story has taken an unexpected international turn. An Israeli businessman has confirmed that he is the father of the children and is now fighting to prevent them from being deported to Russia.
Israeli Father Comes Forward
Dror Goldstein, a clothing entrepreneur from Israel, told Indian media outlets that he is the biological father of six-year-old Prema and five-year-old Ama- the two girls found living with their mother, Nina Kutina, on the remote Ramatirtha Hill near Gokarna. The family was discovered on July 9 during a routine police patrol.
‘I met Nina in Goa around eight years ago. We were in love. I’ve been coming to India regularly to see my daughters,’ Goldstein said, speaking from Bengaluru. ‘But a few months ago, she left Goa without telling me. I didn’t know where they were.’
Goldstein said he had filed a missing persons complaint and eventually tracked Nina and the children to the cave with help from local authorities.
‘I Want to Stay Close to My Daughters’
Goldstein claims he has consistently supported Nina and the children financially, sending money every month for their upkeep. However, he says access to his daughters has always been limited.
‘She made it very hard for me to spend time with them,’ he said. ‘Still, I want shared custody. I just want to be in touch with my daughters, to be close to them.’
Deportation Looms, Father Pushes Back
With Nina’s Indian visa having expired in 2017 and no legal residency status since, Indian authorities have begun deportation proceedings. Officials from the Foreigners Regional Registration Office (FRRO) have coordinated with the Russian consulate in Chandigarh, which confirmed Nina also has another child in Russia.
However, Goldstein is opposing the deportation, stating that sending the girls to Russia would separate him from his children indefinitely.
‘It will be devastating for me if they are taken there. I’m doing everything I can to stop this,’ he said.
A Complex Case of Custody and Immigration
Nina and her daughters are currently being held at a detention center in Bengaluru while paperwork and diplomatic coordination continue. Indian officials expect the repatriation process to take several weeks.
What began as a routine rescue operation has now escalated into a tangled dispute involving international custody rights, visa violations, and competing national interests. The children’s future and where they will call home, remains uncertain.
