D.A. Bragg Announces The Return Of More Than 650 Antiquities To The People Of India

Pictured: "Bronze Avalokiteshvara"

Manhattan District Attorney Alvin L. Bragg, Jr., today announced the return of 657 antiquities collectively valued at nearly $14 million to the people of India. The pieces were recovered pursuant to several ongoing investigations into criminal trafficking networks, including those of alleged antiquities trafficker SUBHASH KAPOOR and convicted trafficker NANCY WIENER. The pieces were returned at a ceremony with Consul Rajlakshmi Kadam from the Consulate General of India in New York.

"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," said District Attorney Bragg. "There is unfortunately more work to be done to return stolen artifacts back to India, and I thank our team for their persistent efforts."

"I express my appreciation for the sustained cooperation extended by the Manhattan District Attorney's Office, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, and the law enforcement agencies whose continued vigilance has made the recovery and return of these culturally significant artifacts possible," said Consul General Mr. Binaya Pradhan.

Among the pieces being returned today:

• A bronze figure of Avalokiteshvara, seated on an inscribed double-lotus base over a lion-flanked throne. The inscription identifies the craftsman as Dronaditya of Sipur, located near modern-day Raipur in the Indian state of Chhattisgarh. The Avalokiteshvara was one of a large hoard of bronzes discovered near the Lakshamana Temple in 1939 and entered the collection of the Mahant Ghasidas Memorial Museum, Raipur by 1952. The Avalokiteshvara was stolen from the museum and smuggled into the U.S. by 1982, ultimately ending up in a private collection in New York by 2014. The $2 million bronze was located and seized from that collection by this Office in 2025.
• A red sandstone figure of a Buddha standing with his right hand raised in abhaya -mudra, a gesture of protection. The Buddha's feet are broken off below the knees and only fragments of the halo behind his head are visible, damage that likely occurred when the statue was looted from Northern India. The $7.5 million statue was smuggled into New York by SUBHASH KAPOOR and was seized by the Antiquities Trafficking Unit from one of KAPOOR's New York storage units.
• A sandstone figure of a dancing Ganesha, which was looted by one of SUBHASH KAPOOR's indicted co-conspirators, Ranjeet "Shantoo" Kanwar, from a temple in Madhya Pradesh, India in 2000. Convicted trafficker Vaman Ghiya then sold and shipped the Ganesha to the New York-based gallery owner Doris Wiener. In 2012, after the death of her mother Doris, NANCY WIENER-later convicted by this Office for antiquities trafficking-knowingly created false provenance for the Ganesha, consigning it to, and selling it at, Christie's New York. The Ganesha was purchased at the 2012 auction by a private collector who surrended it to this Office earlier this year.

Pictured: "Sandstone Ganesha"

For more than a decade, the District Attorney's Antiquities Trafficking Unit, along with law enforcement partners at Homeland Security Investigations, have investigated KAPOOR and his co-conspirators for the alleged illegal looting, exportation, and sale of artifacts from numerous countries in South and Southeast Asia. The D.A.'s Office obtained an arrest warrant for KAPOOR in 2012. [1] In November 2019, KAPOOR and seven of his co-defendants were indicted for their conspiracy to traffic stolen antiquities. KAPOOR's extradition from India, where he was convicted for his trafficking activities in 2022, is pending. Five of Kapoor's co-defendants have already been convicted by this Office. This includes two of his indicted co-defendants as well as three other traffickers who had been charged separately.

The Antiquities Trafficking Unit has now recovered more than 6,200 cultural treasures, including rare books, works of art, and antiquities, valued at more than $485 million, and returned more than 5,900 of those so far to 36 countries. The ATU has also convicted 18 individuals of cultural property-related crimes, with another 7 alleged traffickers pending extradition.

The investigations were conducted by Chief of the Antiquities Trafficking Unit and Senior Trial Counsel Matthew Bogdanos along with Assistant District Attorneys James Edwards-Lebair, Christine DiDomenico, and Jacqueline Studley; Investigative Analysts Hilary Chassé and Michael Chapin; District Attorney Investigator John Paul Labbat; Special Agents Brenton Easter and Robert Fromkin of Homeland Security Investigations; and former Investigative Analyst Charlotte Looram.

The District Attorney's Office would like to thank Rajika Puri for her assistance and cooperation with our investigations.

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[1] Any charges referenced herein that have not already resulted in convictions are merely allegations, and any individuals not convicted are presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty. All factual recitations are derived from documents filed in court and statements made on the court record.