Authorities in New York return more than 650 looted antiquities, valued at nearly $14m, to India

The Manhattan District Attorney’s office under Alvin Bragg announced that it returned 657 looted antiquities valued at nearly $14 million to India at a ceremony at India’s consulate in New York City. The objects were recovered through multiple investigations into trafficking networks, including those linked to convicted antiquities traffickers Subhash Kapoor and Nancy Wiener. Key items include a $2 million bronze Avalokiteshvara stolen after entering the Mahant Ghasidas Memorial Museum in Raipur by 1952 and later seized from a private New York collection in 2025, and a $7.5 million red sandstone Buddha retrieved from a Kapoor storage unit. Bragg said the return demonstrates the “massive” scale of networks targeting India’s cultural heritage; Kapoor and seven co-defendants were indicted in November 2019, Kapoor was convicted in India in 2022, and five co-defendants have been convicted.

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