WASHINGTON: The United States has returned 657 antiquities, collectively valued at around US$14 million, to India. The decision was announced by Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg on Tuesday (April 28).
The antiquities were returned to India at a key event attended by Consul Rajlakshmi Kadam from the Consulate General of India in New York. In an official statement, Bragg said there is “more work to be done” to send back stolen artifacts to India.
The stolen pieces have been recovered after multiple investigations into trafficking networks, including matters related to art dealer Subhash Kapoor as well as convicted trafficker Nancy Wiener.
“The scale of the trafficking networks that targeted cultural heritage in India is massive, as demonstrated by the return of more than 600 pieces… There is unfortunately more work to be done to return stolen artifacts back to India, and I thank our team for their persistent efforts,” Bragg said.
Appreciating the cooperation of the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office, the US Department of Homeland Security and the law enforcement agencies, Consul General of India in New York, Binaya Pradhan, said that their continued vigilance “made the recovery and return of these culturally significant artifacts possible.”
Key artefacts traced
Among the items returned to India include a $2 million worth bronze figure of ‘Avalokiteshvara’ that remains seated on an inscribed double-lotus base over a lion-flanked throne. The inscription identifies the craftsman for this as Dronaditya of Sipur, which is located near modern-day Raipur in Chhattisgarh.
As per reports, the Avalokiteshvara was among the large hoard of bronzes discovered near the Lakshmana Temple in 1939. By 1952, it was added to the collection of the Mahant Ghasidas Memorial Museum, Raipur. Later on, it was stolen and smuggled into the United States by 1982. Thereafter, it ended up at a private collection in New York by 2014. Last year, the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office located the artifact and seized it from that collection.
Another key highlight is a sandstone figure of a dancing ‘Ganesha’. This was stolen by one of Kapoor’s indicted co-conspirators Ranjeet Kanwar from a Madhya Pradesh-based temple in 2000. Vaman Ghiya, a convicted trafficker, then sold the statue to New York-based gallery owner Doris Wiener.
At an auction in 2012, the dancing ‘Ganesha’ figure was purchased by a private collector, who later surrendered it to the Manhattan District Attorney’s office this year.
Also, there is a red sandstone figure of a Buddha standing with his right hand raised in ‘abhaya–mudra’, which is a gesture of protection. This statue was reportedly looted from northern India.
Kapoor smuggled the $7.5 million statue into New York and was later recovered by the Antiquities Trafficking Unit from one of his New York storage units.
Kapoor has been investigated by the District Attorney’s Antiquities Trafficking Unit as well as law enforcement partners at Homeland Security Investigations for over a decade. The probe was related to alleged illegal looting, exportation and sale of artifacts from different regions in South and Southeast Asia.
In 2012, an arrest warrant was obtained against Kapoor and he along with seven of his co-defendants were indicted in November 2019 for their conspiracy to traffic stolen antiquities.
As of now, Kapoor’s extradition from India is pending. He was convicted for his trafficking activities in 2022. - The Statesman/ANN
