NEW YORK: The United States returned on Monday an 11th or 12th century bronze statue of Ganesha to India pursuant to an agreement between the US Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York and the Toledo Museum of Art.

According to a press release, the Ganesha was returned along with several other stolen antiquities at a repatriation ceremony at the Blair House in Washington. Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Attorney General Loretta Lynch attended the ceremony.

Manhattan Attorney Preet Bharara said: “A decade ago, a valued piece of India’s cultural heritage — a statue of Ganesha — was stolen from an Indian temple and sold in the United States.

We are proud to have played a role in returning this treasure to the Indian people and reaffirm our commitment to ensuring that the United States does not become a marketplace for stolen art and antiquities.”

The statue of Ganesha, also known in Tamil Nadu as Vinayagar, is a bronze statue dating from the Chola dynasty period (1080-1150 AD).

It was stolen from the Sivan temple at Sree Puranthan village in the Ariyalur district of Tamil Nadu in 2006 and obtained by Subhash Kapoor, an antiquities dealer in Manhattan.

Kapoor has been charged with various offences by both Indian authorities and the New York County District Attorney’s Office for his alleged involvement in trafficking in stolen antiquities and is currently awaiting trial in Tamil Nadu. Kapoor sold the Ganesha to the Toledo Museum of Art in 2006.

Working with US Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s Homeland Security Investigations (HSI), the Office identified the Ganesha as stolen, and contacted the museum. Upon being presented with the evidence of the Ganesha’s illicit origin, the museum voluntarily agreed to turn it over to HSI for return to India.

Published in Dawn, June 8th, 2016