New York, November 17 (IANS). Manhattan Prosecutor Alvin Bragg has returned 1,440 ancient artefacts to India, including sculptures from sacred temples. All these idols were smuggled to America.
These antiques were handed over to Consul Manish Kulhari during a ceremony at the Indian Consulate in New York. It was presented by Alexandra DeArmas, head of the Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) group.
“We will continue to investigate smuggling networks targeting Indian cultural heritage,” Bragg said.
These antiquities were recovered during the investigation of the smuggling network. This includes cases involving notorious smugglers Subhash Kapoor (convicted in India) and Nancy Weiner (convicted in the US).
HSI New York Special Agent William S. “Today’s withdrawal is another major victory in our multi-year international investigation,” Walker said.
Some ancient sculptures were on display in museums, which were seized by the Manhattan Prosecutor’s Antiquities Trafficking Unit (ATU). Their total value is said to be 10 million dollars.
An arrest warrant has been issued against Kapoor in the US, and the process to extradite him from India is underway.
One of these idols is of a dancer, which was stolen from a temple in Madhya Pradesh in the 1980s. The smugglers cut it into two parts and sent it first to London and then to New York.
The second is an ancient idol of the Goddess of Tanesar which was stolen in the 1960s from Tanesar-Mahadev village in Rajasthan. It reached a gallery in New York. It was also confiscated by the ATU in 2022 after passing through the hands of two collectors.
This effort to bring back these ancient objects is part of another series of efforts by America to return its cultural heritage to India.
During his visit to Washington, Prime Minister Narendra Modi had also thanked President Joe Biden for returning these heritages. PM Modi had said, “For us it is not just art, but part of our heritage, culture and religion. When this lost heritage comes back, it is accepted in a very emotional way.”
Soon after, the Manhattan Prosecutor’s Office handed over 105 antiquities to India.
In 2022, Bragg handed over 307 antiquities, worth approximately $4 million, to the Indian Consulate. “Kapoor was one of the world’s biggest antiquities smugglers,” he said at the time.
Kapoor ran an art gallery in New York. He was arrested in Germany in 2011. This operation was named “Operation Hidden Idol”. He was later brought to India and in 2022, a court in Kumbakonam, Tamil Nadu, sentenced him to 10 years in jail.
–IANS
AS/
