Return of Kapoor loot: US keen, Oz stalling

By S Vijay Kumar
When Luis Martinez, public affairs officer with Bureau of Immigration and Customs Enforcement, US, spoke last week about a secret investigation into one of the largest art theft scandals in America, he let the world know the full extent of "Operation Hidden Idol." This US government operation has already recovered nearly 1,000 items, worth an estimated $150 million, linked to the art dealer Subhash Kapoor facing trial in Tamil Nadu.
This announcement would have created a storm in any other country, but sadly it sank without a trace in India, barring a reference to the return of a few pieces from a Hawaiian museum.
What was also missed out was the fact that Martinez indicated that investigators have identified approximately 2,000 pieces linked to Kapoor that they suspect were looted.
He noted that many of the works are in museums and private collections. And we are talking only of the Americas.
To put things in perspective we are talking of just one art dealer who has been caught and is awaiting trial.
So far only three cases have been filed against Kapoor in India and is for theft from just three temples in Tamil Nadu totalling under 30 items of which only two idols have been successfully brought back from Australia.
It seems the US is putting its best forward to recover our stotlen artefacts but the Indian government has not moved to sign a MoU that will help in their quick s restitution. Europe ­ Britain, Switzerland and France in particular ­ is a significant market for Indian antiquities comprising not just museums but also wealthy individual collectors. Australia returned the bronze Nataraja and the stone Ardhanari which they bought in 2005-06 for close to Rs 40 crore. Administrative ennui on the part of India seems to have stalled the return of other artefacts that the National Gallery of Australia bought from Kapoor. But there is a strong case for the return of all these artefacts and India must press the case.
In March 2014, NGA, in its due diligence report to the Australian minister for arts, listed the detailed provenance information of its acquisitions from Subhash Kapoor. The provenance certificates of these NGA artefacts purport to show that they were all sold, suspiciously enough, a few years before 1970 when the United Nations prohibited the sale of such artefacts. India signed the convention in 1972.
The report lists several artefacts. Among them is a Durga Mahishasuramardhini, possibly from Gujarat or Rajasthan. The provenance lists the original seller in India as Ms Uttam Singh and Sons, Delhi, prior to 1967. The provenance certificate of the Ardhanari that Australia returned and the "Scene from Life of Buddha" lists the original owner as Uttam Singh and Sons. The shop selling brassware still functions in Delhi and its owners have said that its letterheads have been forged.
Another is a Jaina Arch for a shrine likely from Mount Abu, Rajasthan. The provenance lists previous owner as Raj Mehgoub from her husband -a Sudanese diplomat, Abdulla Mehgoub, between 1968 and 1971. A Chola-era bronze sambandar shares the same provenance. And so does the Nataraja, which Australia acknowledged as stolen and returned in a high-profile gesture.
A statue of Pratyangira, likely from TN, was, according to the provenance certificate, purchased from Kangra Art Palace by one Rajpati Singh and Insan Mohammad in 1971. From them it was gifted to Selina Mohamed in New York City in 1990. Kangra Arts was the name of the shop that Subhash Kapoor's father ran in Delhi. Selina Mohamed pleaded guilty in an US court in Dec 2013 for among other crimes "laundering the pieces by creating provenance, origin history and letters of authenticity". She was sentenced on March 12 of this year.
Selina Mohammed figures in the purchase of a pair of door guardians too. Photographs taken by the thieves who stole them have surfaced.
The Kapoor items at NGA are an open-and-shut case. The Indian government must press for their return.
(The author is a Singapore-based blogger who has worked to identify and bring back stolen cultural property of India from other nations)