New York, Nov 16: At least 1,440 antiquities collectively valued at USD 10 million will be returned to India, a statement has said.
Manhattan District Attorney Alvin L. Bragg, Jr., in a statement on Wednesday, said the pieces recovered under several ongoing investigations into criminal trafficking networks, including those of alleged antiquities trafficker Subhash Kapoor and convicted trafficker Nancy Wiener, were returned at a ceremony with Manish Kulhary from the Consulate General of India here and Alexandra deArmas, Group Supervisor from the Homeland Security Investigation of New York Cultural Property, Art, and Antiquities Group.
Bragg announced the return of 1,440 antiquities collectively valued at USD 10 million to the people of India, according to the statement.
“We will continue to investigate the many trafficking networks that have targeted Indian cultural heritage,” Bragg said.
The returned pieces included a sandstone sculpture depicting a Celestial Dancer looted from a temple in Madhya Pradesh, the Tanesar Mother Goddess carved from green-grey schist and looted from the village of Tanesara-Mahadeva in Rajasthan.
The statement said that during Bragg’s tenure, the District Attorney’s Antiquities Trafficking Unit recovered just over 2,100 antiquities stolen from more than 30 countries and valued at almost USD 230 million.
It said about 1,000 antiquities, including more than 600 antiquities looted from India and recovered earlier this year, were scheduled to be repatriated in the coming months. (PTI)
