NEW DELHI: The archaeological survey of India (ASI) has identified a cache of ancient Indian antiquities and other valuable artifacts in the US seized by the immigration and customs enforcement - homeland security from the storage of art smuggler Subhash Kapoor . A visit from an expert ASI team to New York found close to 100 antique objects, including idols dating to the Gupta period (circa 5-6 th century AD) and terracotta objects of Harappan culture.

A two member ASI team comprising of ADG archaeology, Urmila Sant and superintendent archaeologist, Amravati circle, PS Sriraman visited US following a communication from the office of consulate general of India in New York. A set of 17 objects, comprising of seven bronze objects and ten stone objects were seized by the immigration and customs enforcement - homeland security investigations (ICE-HIS) of USA from the storage of art smuggler Subhash Kapoor in New York. After inspecting these objects minutely, ASI officials ascertained all of the 17 seized objects to be antiquities and of significant historical value.

As per officials, the antiquities comprises of beautiful bronzes from the Suttamalli and Sripurantan temples of Tamil Nadu and also a very significant image of Mahakoka Devata. Of these, four antiquities were stolen from the protected monuments at Karitalai, district Katni in Madhya Pradesh on August 16-17 in the year 2006.

Besides this, the 56 terracotta objects returned by Toledo museum, Ohio to Indian consulate were also declared to be antiquities. "The same were gifted to the museum by Subhash Kapor. Majority of them belong to the Chandraketugarh, West Bengal a prominent site of terracotta art in the first decade of CE," said an official.

The rest comprised of terracotta objects of Harappan culture and of Gupta period. Further, 232 objects comprising of brass and copper alloys, gold with enamel work, silver, stone and terracotta in possession of the Indian consulate was also inspected by the ASI officials. Among them, few were identified as antiquities like the stone image of Buddha of Mathura School, terracotta image of Buddha belonging to Gupta period (circa 5th -6 th Century AD) and a set of ten copper plats engraved with Koranic verses of late Mughal Period. Two other stone images of Lingodhbhava of late Chola period (circa 12th - 13th century) from Tamil Nadu and Manjushri of Pala period (circa 10th - 11th century) which were purchased from Subhash Kapoor by museums in USA and were later returned were also examined and identified as antiquities.

In the wake of Subhash Kapoor's 2011 arrest in Germany, several international museums have voluntarily shared information with India about antiquities they had procured from him. Many museums in the US have also deposited various valuable antiquities to homeland security officials that they had purchased from Kapoor, saying they were not aware that the items had been smuggled into the country. Kapoor was the subject of an Interpol red corner notice and was arrested in 2011 at Frankfurt International Airport and was later extradited to India. Presently, he is in the custody of Tamil Nadu police and is being tried for theft of objects from various places. The Indian consulate, New York will be appropriately advised to transport the antiquities to India.

