US restores 307 antiquities, valued at nearly $4 million, to India | India News
Kapoor has been incarcerated and lodged in a prison in Trichy in Tamil Nadu since 2012 pending the completion of his ongoing trial.
In an official release, the Manhattan district attorney’s office said of the 307 antiquities, 235 were seized following investigation into Subhash Kapoor, “a prolific looter who helped traffic items from Afghanistan, Cambodia, India, Indonesia, Myanmar, Nepal, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Thailand and other countries.”
Five of the antiquities were seized following investigation into Nancy Wiener, and one after investigation into Nayef Homsi. The remaining 66 antiquities were stolen from India by multiple smaller trafficking networks.
All the 307 antiquities were returned during a repatriation ceremony at the Indian consulate in New York attended by India’s consul general Randir Jaiswal and US Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) acting deputy special agent-in-charge Tom Lau, said the release.
“We are proud to return hundreds of stunning pieces back to the people of India,” said district attorney Alvin L Bragg Jr. “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,” he said.
“Tracking down these antiquities would not be possible without the collaboration of our law enforcement partners at HSI and the outstanding work of our world-class investigators,” he added.
Among the key organisations that helped HSI in its investigation and verify the provenance of the antique idols was India Pride Project, said its co-founder Vijay Kumar. India Pride Project is a global organisation dedicated to restoring India’s lost heritage.
“The cooperation between India Pride Project, Mumbai-based professor of archaeology Dr Kirit Mankodi and HSI along with the Manhattan DA office is a classic example of how the law enforcement should work hand-in-hand to build prosecution cases to bring down the Antiquities trafficking networks,” said Vijay Kumar.
“Today’s restitution is commendable and its success will help build stronger co-operation between ASI, Indian law enforcers and HSI, hopefully leading to India signing the cultural property MoU with the US and the UNIDROIT convention soon,” said Vijay Kumar.
For more than a decade, the Manhattan district attorney’s antiquities trafficking unit along with law enforcement partners at HSI have investigated Kapoor and his co-conspirators for the illegal looting, exportation and sale of artefacts from numerous countries all over the world. Kapoor and his co-defendants smuggled looted antiquities into Manhattan and sold the pieces through Kapoor’s Madison Avenue-based gallery, Art of the Past. From 2011 to 2022, the DA’s Office and HSI recovered more than 2,500 items trafficked by Kapoor and his network. The total value of the pieces recovered exceeds $143 million, said the official statement from Manhattan district attorney’s office.
One of Kapoor’s that was returned to India was the Arch Parikara. Crafted from marble, it dates to the 12-13th century and is valued at approximately $85,000. The Arch Parikara first surfaced in photographs depicting the antiquity in a dirty, pre-restoration condition. These photographs, along with dozens of others depicting antiquities lying in the grass or on the ground, were sent to Kapoor by a supplier of illicit items in India. The piece was smuggled out of India and into New York in May 2002. Thereafter, Kapoor laundered the Arch Parikara to the Nathan Rubin-Ida Ladd Family Foundation, who donated the piece to the Yale University Art Gallery in 2007, said the press release.
Beginning in the 1960s, Doris Wiener dealt and trafficked in South Asian antiquities through her gallery in New York County. Known for taking “shopping trips,” where she would travel through South Asia to select stolen antiquities that would later be smuggled into New York, Wiener sold the antiquities with her daughter, Nancy, until her (Doris’s) death in 2011. Nancy Wiener was arrested in 2016 and convicted and sentenced in 2021.
One of the antiquities being returned today from Nancy Wiener is the Vishnu and Lakshmi with Garuda dating to the 11th century CE. It was looted from a temple in Central India and smuggled into New York County, said the press release.
