Subash Chandra Kapoor, the US-based antiques smuggler convicted in a Rs 94-crore Tamil Nadu temple idol theft case, is set to return to Germany, 14 years after he was brought to India from a German prison.
The Madurai Bench of the Madras High Court has directed the Union government to take Kapoor into its custody from Tiruchi Central Prison and follow the legal process to send him back to Germany. The decision is linked to the conditions under which Germany had earlier extradited him to India.
Why is Kapoor being sent back?
Kapoor, now 77, was convicted in 2022 for the burglary and illegal export of 19 antique idols from the Varadaraja Perumal temple at Suthamalli in Tamil Nadu’s Ariyalur district. The idols were valued at more than Rs 94 crore.
He was sentenced to 10 years in prison, but the period he had already spent in custody was counted towards his sentence. As a result, he completed the sentence in 2023.
Tamil Nadu wanted to continue prosecuting Kapoor in other idol-theft cases. However, Germany did not give its consent for four such cases. Some other requests were still pending.
This is because of the principle of speciality under extradition law. When a person is extradited, the country receiving him generally cannot prosecute him for offences committed before extradition other than those for which he was surrendered, unless the country that extradited him agrees.
In Kapoor’s case, Germany’s consent was required before India could proceed with the additional cases. Since that consent was not granted in four cases, the High Court held that the seriousness of the other charges could not by itself justify keeping him in prison after his sentence had ended.
How did Kapoor become linked to India’s missing idols?
Kapoor had built a major international antiques business through his Manhattan gallery, Art of the Past. Museums and collectors bought objects from him, while investigators later connected his business to stolen Indian antiquities.
His family was originally involved in the art trade in Delhi. His father, Parshotam Ram, ran Kangra Arts and Crafts before the family moved abroad in the 1970s. Kapoor later established Nimbus Import and Export and became an important figure in the international antiques market.
US investigators began focusing on him after a shipment containing more than 140 antiquities arrived from India in New York in 2007. Kapoor was expected to receive it but abandoned the plan after learning that authorities were watching.
The FBI later monitored his activities, including his office, communications, emails and photographs. Investigators also received information from people who had worked with or been associated with him.
The international trail
Investigators in Tamil Nadu said stolen temple idols were moved through a network involving thieves, middlemen and exporters. Ancient bronzes could be passed off as handicrafts, sent through different countries and eventually sold to overseas collectors and museums.
One notable episode came shortly after Kapoor was arrested in Germany in October 2011. He sent handwritten instructions to his gallery asking for four bronze sculptures to be returned to Selina Mohammad, his girlfriend and an art dealer. Investigators believed the sculptures were valuable Chola bronzes. They were later moved from the gallery and disappeared before a US raid.
The case also led to the recovery of several antiquities from abroad. The Metropolitan Museum of Art agreed to return 15 sculptures connected to Kapoor after determining that they had been illegally removed from India. Other objects linked to the case were also returned from countries including Australia, Singapore and Germany.
However, several antiquities connected to the wider investigation remain abroad or have not been traced.
What happens next?
The High Court’s order means Kapoor is expected to leave Tiruchi Central Prison and be handed over to the German authorities in accordance with the law.
His case has come full circle. Germany arrested him in 2011, India brought him here in 2012 under an extradition arrangement, and he was later convicted in the Tamil Nadu temple case. But once that sentence was completed, the extradition conditions became a legal limit on India’s ability to keep him imprisoned for other pre-extradition offences without Germany’s consent.
While Kapoor can now be sent back to Germany, the same cannot be said for all the antiquities linked to his network. Some have returned to India, while others are still waiting to come home or remain missing.
