The United States returned 248 antiques to India on October 28, including a 12th-century bronze Shiva Nataraja valued at $15 million, the "biggest" such transfer of antiquities to the country.
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 returned 248 antique worth an estimated $15 million to India.
In August 2020, other items from the same seizure were returned to India. A $4 million bronze Shiva Nataraja was stolen from a temple in the 1960s and smuggled into New York before being sold by Doris Wiener, whose daughter, Nancy Wiener, was found guilty by the Office in 2021.
The Asia Society, which received the piece inadvertently, cooperated fully with the investigation.
The Antiquities Trafficking Unit also returned 16 objects related with the infamous Spanish conquistador, Hernan Cortes, to Mexico in the last two months.
