U.S. authorities have announced the return of 657 antiquities, collectively valued at nearly $14 million, to India. The pieces were recovered pursuant to several ongoing investigations into criminal trafficking networks, including those of alleged antiquities trafficker Subash Kapoor and convicted trafficker Nancy Wiener.
The artefacts were returned at a ceremony attended by Consul General of India Rajlakshmi Kadam 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 Manhattan District Attorney Bragg in a statement.
Sources said the 657 antiquities were delivered in three phases: 612 were returned in November 2024, 26 in July 2025, and in the third phase, 19 were returned to India on Tuesday (April 28, 2026). Of the 19, 17 are linked to Subash Kapoor.
Commenting on the development, S. Vijay Kumar, cultural enthusiast and co-founder of India Pride, said, “We are seeing the results of our work over more than a decade bear fruit. India must thank Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) for its sustained efforts in tracking these looted artefacts and ensuring their restitution. This is the result of over a decade-and-a-half of deciphering and dismantling the Indian art smuggling market, which stole our Gods and supplied them to the West via dealers like Subash Kapoor and the Wieners.”
He added: “There are more than 1,000 artefacts yet to be returned, and we hope India and HSI will continue to work on these cases and further decipher the Kapoor and Wiener dossiers, which span nearly 50 years of looting.”
Returned antiquities
Among the pieces being returned is 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 Sirpur, located near modern-day Raipur in Chhattisgarh. The sculpture was part of a large hoard of bronzes discovered near the Lakshmana Temple in 1939 and had entered the collection of the Mahant Ghasidas Memorial Museum, Raipur, by 1952. It was later stolen from the museum and smuggled into the U.S. by 1982, eventually ending up in a private collection in New York by 2014. The $2 million bronze figure was located and seized from that collection in 2025.
Another returned artefact is a red sandstone figure of Buddha standing with his right hand raised in abhaya mudra, a gesture of protection. The Buddha’s feet are broken below the knees, and only fragments of the halo behind his head remain — damage that likely occurred when the statue was looted from northern India. The $7.5-million statue was smuggled into New York by Subash Kapoor and later seized by the Antiquities Trafficking Unit from one of his storage units.
Another artefact includes a sandstone figure of a dancing Ganesha, which was looted by one of Kapoor’s indicted co-conspirators, Ranjeet “Shantoo” Kanwar, from a temple in Madhya Pradesh in 2000. Convicted trafficker Vaman Ghiya later sold and shipped the Ganesha to New York-based gallery owner Doris Wiener. In 2012, following her mother’s death, Nancy Wiener — later convicted for antiquities trafficking — knowingly created false provenance for the sculpture and sold it through Christie’s New York. The Ganesha was purchased by a private collector at the 2012 auction, who surrendered it to the District Attorney earlier this year.
-The Hindu
The artefacts were returned at a ceremony attended by Consul General of India Rajlakshmi Kadam 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 Manhattan District Attorney Bragg in a statement.
Sources said the 657 antiquities were delivered in three phases: 612 were returned in November 2024, 26 in July 2025, and in the third phase, 19 were returned to India on Tuesday (April 28, 2026). Of the 19, 17 are linked to Subash Kapoor.
Commenting on the development, S. Vijay Kumar, cultural enthusiast and co-founder of India Pride, said, “We are seeing the results of our work over more than a decade bear fruit. India must thank Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) for its sustained efforts in tracking these looted artefacts and ensuring their restitution. This is the result of over a decade-and-a-half of deciphering and dismantling the Indian art smuggling market, which stole our Gods and supplied them to the West via dealers like Subash Kapoor and the Wieners.”
He added: “There are more than 1,000 artefacts yet to be returned, and we hope India and HSI will continue to work on these cases and further decipher the Kapoor and Wiener dossiers, which span nearly 50 years of looting.”
Returned antiquities
Among the pieces being returned is 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 Sirpur, located near modern-day Raipur in Chhattisgarh. The sculpture was part of a large hoard of bronzes discovered near the Lakshmana Temple in 1939 and had entered the collection of the Mahant Ghasidas Memorial Museum, Raipur, by 1952. It was later stolen from the museum and smuggled into the U.S. by 1982, eventually ending up in a private collection in New York by 2014. The $2 million bronze figure was located and seized from that collection in 2025.
Another returned artefact is a red sandstone figure of Buddha standing with his right hand raised in abhaya mudra, a gesture of protection. The Buddha’s feet are broken below the knees, and only fragments of the halo behind his head remain — damage that likely occurred when the statue was looted from northern India. The $7.5-million statue was smuggled into New York by Subash Kapoor and later seized by the Antiquities Trafficking Unit from one of his storage units.
Another artefact includes a sandstone figure of a dancing Ganesha, which was looted by one of Kapoor’s indicted co-conspirators, Ranjeet “Shantoo” Kanwar, from a temple in Madhya Pradesh in 2000. Convicted trafficker Vaman Ghiya later sold and shipped the Ganesha to New York-based gallery owner Doris Wiener. In 2012, following her mother’s death, Nancy Wiener — later convicted for antiquities trafficking — knowingly created false provenance for the sculpture and sold it through Christie’s New York. The Ganesha was purchased by a private collector at the 2012 auction, who surrendered it to the District Attorney earlier this year.
-The Hindu
