NY Sends Back Ancient Shiva Statues To Indonesia, Cambodia

Photo:manhattanda.org

India-West Staff Reporter

NEW YORK, NY – On April 26, New York prosecutors announced the return of 30 antiquities to Cambodia and Indonesia, stating that the items had been looted, sold, or illegally transferred by networks of American dealers and traffickers, including the notorious Subhash Kapoor.

 Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg said that the antiquities, valued at $3 million collectively, had been repatriated in two recent ceremonies, with 27 pieces returned to Phnom Penh and three to Jakarta. Among the repatriated items were a bronze sculpture of the Hindu deity Shiva, known as the “Shiva Triad,” which was looted from Cambodia, and a stone bas-relief featuring two royal figures from the Majapahit empire (13th-16th century), which had been stolen from Indonesia.

Kapoor, accused of operating a network that trafficked stolen items from Southeast Asia for sale in his Manhattan gallery, has been under investigation by US authorities for over a decade in an operation known as “Hidden Idol.” Arrested in Germany in 2011, Kapoor was extradited to India, where he was convicted and sentenced to 13 years in prison in November 2022. Kapoor has denied the charges brought against him in the US indictment for conspiracy to traffic in stolen works of art.