The United States has handed back 657 antiquities valued at nearly USD 14 million to India, as authorities underscored the scale of global trafficking networks and the continued effort required to repatriate stolen cultural heritage.
The return was announced by Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg on Tuesday, following multiple investigations into trafficking operations linked to disgraced art dealer Subhash Kapoor and convicted trafficker Nancy Wiener.
The artifacts were formally handed over at an event attended by 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,” Bragg said in a statement. “There is unfortunately more work to be done to return stolen artifacts back to India, and I thank our team for their persistent efforts.”
Consul General of India in New York, Binaya Pradhan, appreciated the sustained cooperation of the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office, the US Department of Homeland Security, and law enforcement agencies whose “continued vigilance,” he said, "made the recovery and return of these culturally significant artifacts possible.”
Among the returned items is a bronze figure of ‘Avalokiteshvara’, valued at USD 2 million, seated on an inscribed double-lotus base over a lion-flanked throne. The inscription identifies the craftsman as Dronaditya of Sipur, near present-day Raipur in Chhattisgarh.
The sculpture was part of a hoard discovered near the Lakshmana Temple in 1939 and later housed at the Mahant Ghasidas Memorial Museum in Raipur by 1952. It was stolen and smuggled into the United States by 1982, eventually surfacing in a private New York collection by 2014 before being seized in 2025 by the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office.
Another key artifact is a sandstone figure of a dancing ‘Ganesha’, looted in 2000 from a temple in Madhya Pradesh by Ranjeet Kanwar, an indicted associate of Kapoor. The statue was later sold and shipped to New York-based gallery owner Doris Wiener by convicted trafficker Vaman Ghiya.
In 2012, Nancy Wiener created false provenance for the ‘Ganesha’ statue after her mother’s death and sold it through Christie’s New York. The piece was acquired by a private collector, who surrendered it earlier this year.
Also among the recovered items is a red sandstone figure of Buddha standing in ‘abhaya –mudra’, symbolising protection. The statue, valued at USD 7.5 million, was damaged—likely during looting in northern India—and later smuggled into New York by Kapoor before being seized from one of his storage units.
For over a decade, the Manhattan District Attorney’s Antiquities Trafficking Unit, in collaboration with Homeland Security Investigations, has probed Kapoor and his associates for alleged illegal looting, export, and sale of artifacts across South and Southeast Asia.
The DA’s Office secured an arrest warrant against Kapoor in 2012, and in November 2019, he and seven co-defendants were indicted for conspiracy to traffic stolen antiquities. Kapoor, convicted in India in 2022 for trafficking activities, is currently awaiting extradition, while five of his co-defendants have already been convicted in the US.
To date, the Antiquities Trafficking Unit has recovered more than 6,200 cultural objects valued at over USD 485 million, returning more than 5,900 items to 36 countries. It has also secured 18 convictions in cultural property-related cases, with seven additional suspects facing pending extradition.