Most of the items were seized from storage space operated by Subhash Kapoor, a former Manhattan gallery owner facing illegal trafficking charges in both India and the United States.
The US on Thursday returned 248 antiquities, including a 12th century bronze Shiva Nataraja, valued at an estimated $15 million to India, the “largest” such transfer of antiquities to the country.
The US returned the 248 antiquities valued at an estimated USD 15 million to India during a repatriation ceremony attended by India Consul General Randhir Jaiswal and US Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) Deputy Special Agent in Charge Erik Rosenblatt.
The US on Thursday returned 248 antiquities, including a 12th-century bronze Shiva Nataraja, valued at an estimated $15 million to India, the "largest" such transfer of antiquities to the country.
"This extraordinary assemblage of artifacts, recovered from five different criminal investigations over the past decade, embodies the timeless cultural and cosmic bridge between ancient and modern-day India," Manhattan District Attorney (DA) Cy Vance, Jr said in a statement.