Pictured: Figure of Buddha

Manhattan District Attorney Alvin L. Bragg, Jr., today announced the return of 20 antiquities collectively valued at more than $3 million to the people of Nepal. The objects were recovered pursuant to several criminal investigations into trafficking networks targeting Nepali antiquities, including that of SUBHASH KAPOOR.

For more than a decade, the District Attorney’s Antiquities Trafficking Unit (ATU), along with law-enforcement partners, have investigated KAPOOR and his co-conspirators for the alleged illegal looting, exportation, and sale of artifacts from numerous countries in South and Southeast Asia. The D.A.’s Office obtained an arrest warrant for KAPOOR in 2012 and his extradition from India, is pending. To date, the investigation has led to the convictions of five individuals and the pending extradition of five others.

“The people of Nepal have fought for the return of these prized antiquities for decades, and I am thrilled that our long-term investigation has resulted in the return of these objects. These trafficking networks are extensive and complex, but we will continue our work to dismantle them and undo the harm they have created,” said District Attorney Bragg.

Key pieces being repatriated today include:

• The Portrait of Gaganshim Bharo with His Wives – this monumental pigment and gold on cotton portrait is a paubha, a type of traditional religious painting made by the Newar people of Nepal. Dated by inscription to c. 1450-1474 C.E., this portrait depicts the military governor Gaganshim Bharo performing an unknown ritual with two of his wives. The portrait, along with two other paubhas, was stolen from the Itumbaha Monastery in Kathmandu during a break-in robbery in 1980. They were then smuggled out of Nepal and trafficked through Switzerland before ending up in the possession of a New York County-based antiquities dealer in 1982. In 2003, federal authorities began investigating the theft, but all three Itumbaha paubhas remained with the dealer. Then, in 2024, members of the Nepali community contacted the ATU requesting assistance on behalf of the Monastery. Using extensive in-country contacts and international partners, the ATU conducted its investigation and seized all three paubhās two months later.
• The Figure of Buddha – Made of black stone, this statue dates to the 9th century C.E. and depicts the Buddha Sakyamuni. The Buddha was stolen from a stupa in Bungamati, Nepal in the late 1970’s and next appeared with a dealer in London in the 1980’s, who sold it to an American collector. After being offered for sale at Christie’s New York in 2015, the Buddha was donated to the University of Michigan Art Museum, where it was recovered by the ATU in 2024.
• The Stone Goddess – This statue likely depicts the Hindu goddess Parvati or Lakshmi. The Goddess first appeared in a niche in the Vishnu Devi Temple Complex, Kathmandu, in a 1975 photograph taken by the Austrian architect Carl Pruscha. It was next seen in a 1984 shipping receipt recording its arrival in New York County from Switzerland. The Goddess was then purchased by New York-based collector Robert Hatfield Ellsworth and remained in his Estate’s possession until it was seized by the ATU in 2025.

Pictured: Portrait of Gaganshim Bharo

During District Attorney Bragg’s tenure, the ATU has recovered more than 2,275 antiquities stolen from 39 countries and valued at $250 million. Since its creation, the ATU has recovered almost 6,000 antiquities valued at nearly $465 million and has returned more than 5,450 of them to 29 countries.

Assistant District Attorney Matthew Bogdanos, Chief of the Antiquities Trafficking Unit and Senior Trial Counsel, conducted the investigations, assisted by Assistant District Attorneys by Christine DiDomenico and James Edwards-Lebair; Investigative Analysts Hilary Chassé and Charlotte Looram; District Attorney Investigators Josellina Nardulli and John Paul Labbat; and Special Agents Robert Fromkin, Christopher Rommeney, and Brenton Easter of Homeland Security Investigations. Investigative support was provided by Sanjay Adhikari of the Nepal Heritage Recovery Campaign; Sarita Subedi of the Department of Archaeology of Nepal’s Ministry of Tourism, Culture, and Civil Aviation; Pragya Ratna Shakya, president of the Keshchandra Mahavihar Conservation Society; Erich Theophile, Executive Director and Co-founder of Kathmandu Valley Preservation Trust; Captain Chandra Bhadur Shakya, Sarswati Rashmi Shakya, Stephen T. Eckerd, Anil Tuladhar, Dr. Erin Thompson, and Dr. Bibhakar Sunder Shakya.

The District Attorney’s Office would also like to thank the Navin Kumar Gallery, the University of Michigan Museum of Art, and the Smithsonian’s National Museum of Asian Art for their assistance in returning these antiquities to Nepal and for their cooperation with our investigation.

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