The Manhattan District Attorney's office, led by Alvin Bragg, returned 657 looted antiquities valued at nearly $14 million to Indian authorities in late March 2025. The pieces, recovered through investigations into criminal trafficking networks, include a $2 million bronze Avalokiteshvara stolen from a museum in Raipur, a $7.5 million red sandstone Buddha smuggled by convicted trafficker Subhash Kapoor, and a sandstone dancing Ganesha looted from a Madhya Pradesh temple that passed through dealer Doris Wiener and was sold at Christie's in 2012.
This repatriation underscores the scale of illicit antiquities trafficking from South Asia and the ongoing efforts of U.S. law enforcement to dismantle these networks. The case highlights the role of major auction houses like Christie's in unwittingly facilitating the sale of looted artifacts, and the importance of provenance research in recovering stolen cultural heritage. The return also reflects growing international cooperation in restitution, with Kapoor's extradition to the U.S. still pending after his 2022 conviction in India.