The United States returns stolen antiques to India in a study of art plans
NEW YORK (AP) – US authorities returned about 250 antiques to India on Thursday in a lengthy investigation into a stolen art plan.
The items, valued at an estimated $ 15 million, were handed over during a ceremony at the Indian Consulate in New York City. The centerpiece is a bronze Shiva Nataraja worth $ 4 million, authorities said.
The ceremony comes from an extensive investigation conducted by the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office and the U.S. Department of Immigration and Customs. The investigation has focused on tens of thousands of antiques allegedly smuggled into the United States by dealer Subhash Kapoor, who has denied the allegations.
The case “serves as a potent reminder that individuals who plunder sacred temples in pursuit of individual profit commit crimes not only against a country’s heritage but also against its present and future,” said District Attorney Cyrus Vance Jr. in a statement.
Authorities say Kapoor – jailed in India and indicted there pending a US extradition request – used his Arts of the Past gallery in New York to deal in looted treasures from India and various countries in Southeast Asia. The investigation has resulted in the recovery of 2,500 artifacts worth $ 143 million and convictions of six Kapoor conspirators, Vance said.
The Shiva Nataraja bronze was sold by the mother of Nancy Wiener, a gallery owner who pleaded guilty in the case this month on charges of conspiracy and possession of stolen property, authorities said. Nancy Wiener sold looted items to major museums in Australia and Singapore, they said.
In June, the district attorney’s office returned more than two dozen $ 3.8 million worth of artifacts to Cambodia as part of the investigation. A further 33 items were sent back to Afghanistan in April.
Legal documents filed in New York say Kapoor went to extraordinary lengths to acquire the artifacts, many of them statues of Hindu deities, and then forged their ancestry with forged documents. They say Kapoor traveled the world to find antiques that had been looted from temples, homes and archeological sites. Some of the artifacts were found from Kapoor’s storage units in New York.
Kapoor had the items cleaned and repaired to remove any damage from illegal excavation and then illegally exported them to the United States from their countries of origin, according to U.S. prosecutors.
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