New York Prosecutor Returns Looted Antiquities of India

New Delhi: New York public prosecutor Alvin Bragg has returned hundreds of looted ancient statues and figurines to India. Some of these statues are 5,500 years old.

These antique statues were brought into the US by a network allegedly masterminded by Subash Kapoor, a convicted antique smuggler.

Bragg’s office in Manhattan said that 235 antiquities from India, including many sacred images from temples, were seized during investigations into the multinational predations of Kapoor across India, Pakistan, Afghanistan, Cambodia, Indonesia, Myanmar, Nepal, Sri Lanka, Thailand, and other countries.

The smuggled items were sold through Kapoor’s Art of the Past gallery in Manhattan, the US official said.

One of the pieces, a marble sculpture known as the Arch Parikara from the 12th or 13th century, was returned by Yale University Art Gallery which had received it as a donation from a family foundation that bought it from Kapoor.

Bragg said, “These antiquities were stolen by multiple complex and sophisticated trafficking rings — the leaders of which showed no regard for the cultural or historical significance of these objects.”

A total of 307 items valued at about $4 million were handed over to India’s Consul General Randhir Jaiswal at a ceremony last month, according to Bragg’s office.

The office informed that five of the Indian antiquities were seized during investigations into smugglings by Nancy Wiener and her late mother Doris Wiener.

An item seized from them that is headed back to India is a statue of Lord Vishnu and Goddess Lakshmi with Garuda from the 11th century. It was looted from a temple in central India.

The prosecutor’s office said that warrants are out for Kapoor and five of his accomplices to face charges in New York and Bragg is seeking their extradition.

The prosecutor’s office added that the artefacts had been seized from storage units belonging to the Art of the Past gallery.

The network supplied the international art market with stolen antiquities from countries including, but not limited to, Afghanistan, Pakistan, and India, it added.