Dozens of religious statues, worth up to $ 20 million discovered in a warehouse, who rented an art dealer Subhash Chandra Kapur, now under investigation in India

Police in the repository of stolen artifacts dealer Subhash Chandra Kapoor
Source: nytimes.com

yesterday in New York, employees of the federal Immigration and Customs police discovered a warehouse of stolen Indian artifacts worth up to $ 20 million . Dozens of items have been illegally exported from India, the art dealer Subhash Chandra Kapur (Subash Chandra Kapoor), arrested last fall in Berlin and is now under investigation at home.

Gallery «Art of the Past »on Madison Avenue, owned by 63-year-old Subhash Kapoor, has successfully traded in Indian values ​​since 1976. Many items from this gallery are provided for exhibitions in state museums. To conceal the illegal origin of the artifacts, gallery owner forged their provenance.

In 2007, Indian authorities have informed the police about some of the American cargo of smuggled Indian values, which should arrive in New York. Most likely, the delivery of the goods involved in Subhash Kapoor. Artifacts stolen right out of the temple complexes, and then crossed in transit through Hong Kong to the United States.

yesterday in the warehouse, who rented Kapoor, police found dozens of items made of stone and bronze. This is mainly religious statues, many of them belong to the tenth century - the period of existence in the Indian state of Tamil Chola territory. Many of the statue larger than life-size, some even traces of the earth. Were removed, for example, a sculpture of Shiva worth up to $ 3.5 million and a statue of Uma Parvati, estimated at 2.5 million, stolen from the church on the territory of the State of Tamil Nadu. It was also found giant Buddha's head height of 1.5 meters and weighing 725 pounds.

Prepared by Mary Onuchina, AI

Sources : nytimes.com , nypost.com , artinvestment.ru