An investigation by The Indian Express revealed 77 smuggled Indian antiques are sitting in New York’s Met Museum, and Nita Ambani is overseeing them.
From an ivory sculpture of “Moon God Chandra” traced to 2nd-1st century BCE to an eighth-century stone sculpture of “Kamadeva, the God of Love”; from an ink-and-watercolour painting of “Mahishasura Mardini” in 1760 to another in “red ochre and wash on paper” from 1775-80 depicting “Rama and Lakshmana”.
All of them sit, catalogued, in the Metropolitan Museum of Art (Met) in New York. What is also common to each is a trail that goes all the way back to a 73-year-old man currently in custody in India.
An investigation by The Indian Express, in association with the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ) and UK-based Finance Uncovered, has found that Met’s catalogue includes at least 77 antiquities spanning centuries, including 59 paintings, with links to Subhash Kapoor, who is serving a 10-year prison term in Tamil Nadu for smuggling antiquities.
A study conducted by the Al-Hudhud Center for Archaeological Studies has shown how Yemen’s artefacts are being stolen and sold in auctions in the US and other countries.
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