Chennai: US national Subhash Kapoor, who was last November convicted of theft and illegal export of antique artefacts by a trial court in Tamil Nadu and sentenced to 10 years in jail, remains in prison despite his term ending (time spent awaiting trial was accounted for in the sentence).
Perhaps fearful of trials that loom ahead in New York, the Indian-born Kapoor — who has been in the custody of the Tamil Nadu Police since 2012 — seemed almost reluctant to demand his release.
Convicted in a case of theft and illegal export of 19 idols from the Varadaraja Perumal temple in Tamil Nadu’s Ariyalur district, he was required to serve an additional three months of prison time for non-payment of a court-imposed fine of Rs 7,000.
Sources in the Tamil Nadu Police told ThePrint that the non-payment of fine could have been a deliberate strategy to stall his extradition to the US.
However, while even that extended sentence is now over, Kapoor continues to be lodged in Trichy’s Central Prison as he awaits trial in three more idol theft cases in Tamil Nadu.
Advocate Senthil Vadivelu, one of the lawyers who had appeared in the Ariyalur idol theft case, told ThePrint, “Subash is an accused in three other cases related to idol theft in Tamil Nadu, and the state government has requested the New York government for continuation of his cases here. The first two representations were rejected by the New York government as he is wanted in cases there as well. The third representation has been put on hold, and there has been no update on it.”
Vadivelu added: “Unless there is a go ahead from the New York government the three cases will not have any progress here, and he will continue in prison.”
Tamil Nadu Police investigating officers describe Kapoor as “aggressive, smooth and believable”.
Speaking to ThePrint, K. Jayanth Murali, former director general of the Tamil Nadu CID’s idol wing, described his conviction as “a record conviction for idol theft”.
Murali said Kapoor, who is now 74, had become a fragile man when he first met him, adding that the activities of the idol smuggler were well known in police circles.
“He was a smooth operator who had stolen a huge number of idols from the country and the accurate figure is still unknown,” he said.
According to one estimate by authorities in the US, where Kapoor ran an art gallery, more than “2,500 items trafficked by Kapoor and his network” were recovered by the District Attorney of New York and US Homeland Security Investigations from 2011 to 2022, and were estimated to be worth over $143 million.
In October 2022, Manhattan District Attorney Alvin L. Bragg, Jr, had announced the return of 307 antiquities valued at nearly $4 million to the people of India. In a statement, Bragg said “235 of the antiquities were seized pursuant to investigating Subhash Kapoor, a prolific looter”.
On 23 June, Prime Minister Narendra Modi, during an interaction with members of the Indian-American community in Washington, said the US government had decided to return another 100 artefacts that had been stolen from India.
The fate of hundreds, perhaps thousands, of art works stolen by Kapoor, and now kept in private collections and museums in the West, depends on his coming trials in New York and elsewhere.
A proposed cultural heritage agreement between India and the US seeks to ease the pathway for the return of the priceless art — but only after it is legally proven that the objects were stolen in the first place.
ThePrint reached Kapoor’s US lawyer Georges Lederman by email to seek information on the status of the cases against him, as well as the extradition process. No response was received until the time of publishing this report.
Also Read: How India-US agreement for stolen art can help nab ‘small-ticket items’, tackle smuggling at borders
Subhash Kapoor’s modus operandi
Kapoor, who ran a Madison Avenue-based art gallery named Art of the Past, was arrested by the German Police on 30 October 2011, based on a Red Corner Notice issued by the Interpol. In July 2012, he was extradited to India and handed over to the Tamil Nadu Police.
He was investigated as the first accused, among five others, in the Ariyalur idol theft case and convicted in last year.
The stolen antique idols estimated to be worth Rs 94 crore were illegally exported to Art of the Past, according to court documents.
Officials in the police department told ThePrint that “Kapoor had a way of identifying the most antique idols in temples with the help of historians who never suspected his intentions”.
“So, with good intentions, they (historians) would tell him the value or antiquity of the idol. Once he knew the value or antiquity of the idol, he would then go about stealing the idol from the temple,” said an official.
Kapoor had three ways to smuggle idols from the country, said Murali.
The first involved bribing the temple priest or temple staff, after which Kapoor would get a replica of the idol prepared and get the antique replaced with it at night (with help from temple staff), he added.
“The second strategy was rolled out when temple staff refused to cooperate. Kapoor would approach thieves who would do the job for him. The person selected to steal the idols would be paid peanuts, like Rs 10,000 or Rs 50,000. But the idol would be worth lakhs or crores,” said Murali.
The last plan involved temples that did not have security available and where religious activities were not held but idols existed on the premises, according to the former DG.
“Kapoor would get in touch with the local people or local authorities. He would bribe them to get the idols and transport them in trucks carrying vegetables or groceries. The artefacts would then pass through the border and would be taken to Kathmandu in Nepal, and then to Singapore, and from there to the UK or US,” said Murali. “Kapoor’s network and accomplices would also create fake documents so that the idols could be sold abroad.”
Also Read: Why classifying societies on the basis of ceramics isn’t the best approach to know histories
‘Love gone wrong led to Kapoor’s downfall’
While Kapoor used multiple strategies to smuggle idols from not just India but over 13 countries, things started going downhill for him after his breakup with his then Singaporean girlfriend, Murali said.
“When he fell out with the Singaporean girlfriend, she wrote a series of letters to the US Homeland Security authorities exposing Subhash Kapoor as an idol thief. This snowballed into an investigation,” he said.
With a mind-boggling number of temples in India, the biggest challenge for the police was to list the number of antique idols across the country.
Police officials in the Tamil Nadu CID idol wing said there was no concrete data on the number of idols missing from the country. The accounted numbers are only based on criminal FIRs.
“In several museums across the world, there are artefacts on display claiming to be from specific locations in India, but we are unable to retrieve them because of lack of criminal FIRs,” said Murali.
G. Kishan Reddy, Union Minister for Culture and Tourism, had tweeted in April that “till date, 251 antiquities have been retrieved from different countries, of which 238 have been brought back since 2014”.
‘Chemical trace’ to stop smuggling
Tamil Nadu idol wing officials told ThePrint that the police along with customs officials have been working together to stop the smuggling of idols, but smugglers have found different methods to hoodwink them.
Explaining one of the methods, Murali said: “Smugglers make a replica of an idol and get it certified from the Archaeological Survey of India as non-antique. They then use this certificate to smuggle the original stolen antique out of India.”
In Tamil Nadu, the government has set up a detailed information system on stolen idols, said Murali, adding that the police’s idol wing is also collaborating with a US-based company to develop and use a unique trace chemical on original artefacts.
The company, called Stardust, produces “unique traceable materials (chemical tracers that physically mark traceable items) and electronic detectors (readers that detect tracers), and design turn-key authentication solutions that combine materials, readers, and other multi-layer systems”, according to its website.
“An idol with such a chemical trace can be identified even if it is stolen or replaced with a replica,” said Murali.
(Edited by Nida Fatima Siddiqui)
Also Read: Ancient statues, scroll, portraits — Full list of 29 antiquities Australia returned to India