Smuggled Madhya Pradesh idols seized from Subash Kapoor’s US warehouse

BHOPAL: The mystery behind the gradual disappearance of antique, priceless idols from Madhya Pradesh over the last four decades has now been traced to Subhash Kapoor, the New York-based art dealer on trial in Chennai for allegedly running a $100 million international smuggling racket.
A 2,200-year-old idol stolen from Katni district in 2006 has been recovered during raids by US department of justice and department of homeland security (DHS) from Kapoor’s warehouse in Manhattan, New York.Homeland security officials claimed that the Katni idol, Barhutsupa Yakshi (Great Koka devta), was put on sale in the US for nearly Rs 80 crore.
The DHS has now tipped off Madhya Pradesh Criminal Investigation Department (CID), through the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), about seizure of three smuggled idols. More idols seized from Kapoor’s facility is under the scanner.
The United States is likely to return the idols stolen from Madhya Pradesh to Prime Minister Narendra Modi during his next visit, said sources.
However, mystery shrouds Kapoor’s network in the state. “We got inputs on three idols from CBI (which is Interpol’s nodal agency in India). Officers in concerned districts have been alerted to find the whereabouts. Investigations are on," said G P Singh, ADG, CID.
Two of those, a sandstone idol of Salabhanjika and a torso of Vishnu, were stolen from Katni in 2006 while the Barhutsupa Yakshi was smuggled out of Nagod in Satna district almost two decades ago.
Kapoor was arrested at Frankfurt International Airport following Interpol’s Red Corner notice on October 30, 2011 and extradited to Chennai on July 14, 2012 on charges of receiving artefacts that had been stolen from temples in southern India. He is currently in Chennai’s Puzhal prison. He is a resident of Gorakhpur in Uttar Pradesh (UP) and was also on the ‘wanted’ list of UP and Rajasthan police. He had set up gallery called ‘Art of the Past’ in Manhattan, besides running a website www.artofpast.com to sell stolen the antiques and idols. His company Nimbus Import and Exports was a front for selling antiquities of Indian origin to internationally renowned art galleries and museums like Canberra’s National Gallery of Australia, New York’s Metropolitan Museum of Art and Toronto’s Royal Ontario Museum etc.
Mumbai-based professor Dr Kirit Mankodi, who helped them trace the origin of a 2,200 year-old precious antique to Madhya Pradesh.
Superintendent of police in Katni and Satna have been asked to investigate the matter and trace its smuggling route from MP to the US and other parts of the world. Katni superintendent of police Gaurav Rajput said, “We are not in a position to reveal anything as of now as it can hamper further links. Those involved might get alerted. Entire chain has to be busted”.
Mumbai professor helped US cops trace idol’s origin to Katni
After Subash Kapoor’s arrest by the US department of justice, homeland security (DHS) or US Immigration Custom’s Enforcement (ICE) it was a Mumbai-based professor Dr Kirit Mankodi, who helped them trace the origin of a 2,200 year-old precious antique to Madhya Pradesh. Mankodi is an independent archaeologist who campaigns for return of stolen Indian antiques.
“I received a mail from DHS with pictures of Bharhut idol. Within no time, I recalled it was idol that was stolen from Katni in 2006. I forwarded the copy of FIR by Katni police and some other details about the stolen Katni idol to US to confirm that it belonged to Madhya Pradesh,” Dr Mankodi told TOI over phone.
Mankodi, 76, maintains a record of several such stolen artefacts on his portal www.plunderedpast.in. Over last decade, Mankodi is campaigning to help recover the country’s stolen heritage.
He said Katni’s Bharhut Yakshi idol is worth Rs 80 crore in the art market and was the most expensive item seized from Kapoor’s gallery so far.
“Also known as Mahakoka (the great bird-voiced goddess), this sandstone sculpture was recovered from a 2,200 year-old Buddhist stupa excavated by Alexander Cunningham, pioneer of archaeology in India, at Bharhut near Satna in Madhya Pradesh in 1873, says Mankodi. Its owners had declared a reward of Rs 50,000 for the recovery of what as for them their family deity.
According to Mankodi, Subash Kapoor had presented forged documents to show its provenance to be Khartoum in Sudan. “Though no photograph of Mahakoka had ever been published, the statue's Prakrit language inscription giving her name and that of the donor had been copied by Cunningham. The pictures sent by the agents had the same name "Mahakoka Devata" and the name of the donor. This writing matched the published record of Cunningham.