DRI raids smuggler's warehouse, seizes antiques

Days after Directorate of Revenue Intelligence (DRI) arrested an Indian origin US man, Vijay Nanda, for allegedly smuggling antique items and recovered several antique wooden sculptures from his house, the sleuth of DRI raided his Byculla warehouse on Saturday.

During the raid, DRI recovered antique wooden sculptures and carvings that include 12 ornately carved wooden columns with floral pilasters, 12 wooden archways with carvings of birds and flowers on them and 12 wooden pedestals. These antique items are protected under the Antiquities and Art Treasures Act, 1972.

According to DRI officials, the wooden sculptures belong to Shahjahani style of architecture, which is a part of the Late Mughal era of the 17th and 18th Century. Similar style of columns were also found in the Indo-Saracenic style of architecture in the 19th Century. The recovered columns appear to be a part of a grand haveli in Gujarat or Rajasthan.

"Actual identification will be possible only by matching pictures from a local historian's sources. All these sculptures had been packed properly and were in a ready to be shipped," said a DRI official "We could not get access to this warehouse earlier as Nanda told us that he had lost the keys to it. Our investigation is still underway," the official added.

DRI officials also claim that while searching Nanda's house they did not find any documentation/proof of ownership of these items. Nanda in his statement had also not mentioned about the possession of these antique objects. The wooden antiquities have been seized under provisions of the Customs Act, 1962. Nanda has been remanded in judicial custody till February 20.