| Subhash Kapoor | |
| Nationality: | Indian American |
| Years Active: | 1974–2011 |
| Criminal Charge: | art theft, grand larceny, criminal possession of stolen property |
Subhash Kapoor is an Indian American art smuggler who was convicted for running a $100 million international smuggling racket.[1] He was previously the owner of the Art of the Past gallery in Manhattan. His sister business, Nimbus Import/Exports, specialised in selling antiquities from across the Indian Subcontinent and Southeast Asia to major museums around the world.[2] [3]
In early October 2011 India’s Central Bureau of Investigation issued an international alert, known as an Interpol’s Red List Notice, for Kapoor’s “non bailable” warrant for arrest in connection with the theft case at the temple in Sripuranthan village, in the Ariyalur district of Tamil Nadu. On 30 October 2011, Kapoor was arrested at Frankfurt International Airport and on 14 July 2012 extradited to Chennai, India on charges of receiving artifacts that had been stolen from disused temples in southern India. Many of these objects were purchased by museums throughout the world.[4] For example, in 2008 an 11th-century Chola-period bronze statue of a Dancing Shiva was sold by Kapoor to the National Gallery of Australia for $5.6 million (see Sripuranthan Natarajan Idol). The statue was allegedly stolen from an Indian temple in Tamil Nadu.[5] [6] [7]
Kapoor was handed over to India by German authorities and extradited in July 2012 and is initially held in custody in Chennai. He was later transferred to Vellore Central Prison in the South Indian state of Tamil Nadu and still later to the high security block of Tiruchirapalli Central Prison while awaiting trial for the theft of idols from Varadaraja Perumal temple in the state's Ariyalur district in Tamil Nadu.[8] He was attacked by a fellow inmate Kongu Yuvaraj, who was accused of committing an honor killing, following a heated argument between these two.[9] [10]
In 2012 the Manhattan District Attorney's Office issued an arrest warrant for Subhash Kapoor. By November 2019 that office had indicted Kapoor for a total of 86 Counts in the New York, including Grand Larceny in the First Degree (1 Count), Criminal Possession of Stolen Property in the First Degree (16 Counts), Grand Larceny in the Second Degree (13 Counts), Criminal Possession of Stolen Property in the Second Degree (50 Counts), Grand Larceny in the Third Degree (1 Count) Criminal Possession of Stolen Property in the Third Degree (3 Counts), Conspiracy in the Fourth Degree (1 Count) and one Count of Scheme and Defraud in the First Degree. All of the charges were based upon evidence gathered by the New York public prosecutor's office investigation, assisted by the Department of Homeland Security Immigration and Customs Enforcement – Homeland Security Investigations into the illegal importation and sale of stolen antiquities and other art objects and for having provided said items with fraudulent provenance documents of prior ownership.[11]
On 1 November 2022 Kapoor was found guilty in India under the following charges related to the case involving the theft of idols:
IPC penal code section 411 (dishonestly receiving stolen property) carrying with it a three year prison sentence plus a fine.
IPC penal code section 413 (receives or deals in property which he knows or has reason to believe to be stolen property) carrying with it a three year prison sentence plus a fine.
IPC penal code section 120 b (criminal conspiracy) carrying with it a seven year prison sentence plus a fine.
He was sentenced by Chief Judicial Magistrate D Shanmuga Priya to a seven-year prison term for conspiracy with an additional three years for buying and dealing in stolen goods. Despite having already served the entirety of that sentence while his case progressed through the court in India. Kapoor remains in custody due to an extradition hold related to a request by the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office.[12]
In 2015, the Manhattan District Attorney's Office brought a civil forfeiture action against antiquities dealer Subhash Kapoor over an enormous collection of allegedly looted antiquities and in July 2020 filed their own extradition paperwork for former New York dealer, while he was in prison in India pending the completion of his ongoing trial in Tamil Nadu.[13]
On November 10, 2022 the Manhattan District Attorney, Alvin L. Bragg, Jr., announced the return of 187 antiquities collectively valued at nearly $3.4 million to the people of Pakistan all of which had been seized pursuant to the Office’s investigation into Subhas Kapoor's smuggling operation.[14]
In April 2022, the Yale University Art Gallery surrendered items valued at more than $1 million as part of art looting investigation. The 13 South Asian artifacts returned by the museum were smuggled by Kapoor.[15]
On 30 March 2023 the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, announced that it had relinquished 15 antique sculptures to the Government of India after being informed that they were “illegally removed” from India. All the sculptures had been sold at one point by Subhash Kapoor.[16]