The handover was announced by District Attorney Alvin L Bragg Jr at a ceremony attended by Consul Rajlakshmi Kadam from the Indian Consulate in New York.
“The scale of the trafficking networks that targeted cultural heritage in India is massive,” Bragg said. He added that more work is needed to return stolen artefacts.
Consul General Binaya Pradhan thanked US agencies, including the Department of Homeland Security, for their role in recovering the objects.
Smuggling network exposed: Who is behind the thefts?
Officials said the artefacts were recovered through investigations into networks linked to alleged trafficker Subhash Kapoor and convicted dealer Nancy Wiener.
Authorities said the network sourced artefacts from temples, museums and archaeological sites in India using local intermediaries. The system involved theft, fake documentation and resale through galleries and auction houses in the United States and other countries.
The Antiquities Trafficking Unit and Homeland Security Investigations have investigated Kapoor and his associates for over a decade. Authorities issued a warrant against Kapoor in 2012 and indicted him and seven co-accused in 2019. Kapoor was convicted in India in 2022 and is awaiting extradition to the United States.
From temples to auctions: Key artefacts traced
Among the returned items is a bronze figure of Avalokiteshvara valued at about $2 million. It was discovered near the Lakshmana Temple in 1939 and later kept at the Mahant Ghasidas Memorial Museum in Raipur. The sculpture was stolen and smuggled out of India by 1982. It resurfaced in a private collection in New York and was seized in 2025.
A red sandstone Buddha statue valued at $7.5 million was also recovered. Investigators said it was smuggled into New York through Kapoor’s network and later found in a storage unit. The statue, which shows the “abhaya mudra” gesture, was damaged during looting.
Another artefact is a sandstone statue of a dancing Ganesha. It was looted from a temple in Madhya Pradesh in 2000 by co-conspirator Ranjeet Kanwar. Convicted trafficker Vaman Ghiya later sold it. Nancy Wiener created false provenance documents before it was auctioned at Christie’s New York in 2012. A private collector surrendered the piece earlier this year.
Crackdown widens: Thousands of artefacts recovered
Officials said the Antiquities Trafficking Unit has recovered more than 6,200 cultural objects valued at over $485 million. More than 5,900 items have been returned to 36 countries. The unit has secured 18 convictions, with seven additional suspects awaiting extradition.
Investigators from the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office, Homeland Security Investigations, and teams of analysts and legal experts led the operation. Authorities said the action is part of ongoing efforts to curb the global trade in stolen antiquities.