US returns 657 antiquities worth over ₹132 crore to India

Image: Manhattanda.org (Left to right: “Sandstone Ganesha”, “Bronze Avalokiteshvara”)

The Manhattan District Attorney's Office has returned 657 antiquities collectively valued at nearly $14 million (₹132.87 crore) to India as part of ongoing investigations into international antiquities trafficking networks.

The return was announced by Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg during a ceremony attended by officials from the Consulate General of India in New York, including Consul Rajlakshmi Kadam.

The antiquities were recovered through investigations linked to alleged traffickers Subhash Kapoor and 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 today,” Bragg said in a statement.

Indian Consul General Binaya Pradhan thanked US authorities and law enforcement agencies for their continued cooperation in recovering culturally significant artefacts.

Among the artefacts returned was a bronze figure of Avalokiteshvara valued at $2 million. The sculpture, originally housed at the Mahant Ghasidas Memorial Museum in Raipur, was stolen and smuggled into the United States before being traced to a private collection in New York.

Another major recovery included a red sandstone Buddha statue worth $7.5 million, allegedly smuggled into New York by Kapoor and later seized from one of his storage facilities.

Authorities also returned a sandstone sculpture of dancing Ganesha, which investigators said was looted from a temple in Madhya Pradesh in 2000 and subsequently trafficked through international dealers before being sold at auction in New York.

The Manhattan District Attorney’s Antiquities Trafficking Unit, working alongside Homeland Security Investigations, has spent more than a decade investigating Kapoor and his associates for the alleged illegal looting and sale of artefacts from South and Southeast Asia.

Kapoor was indicted in New York in 2019 on charges related to trafficking stolen antiquities. His extradition from India, where he was convicted in 2022 in a separate trafficking case, remains pending.

Officials said the Antiquities Trafficking Unit has so far recovered more than 6,200 cultural objects valued at over $485 million and returned more than 5,900 items to 36 countries worldwide.