Subash Kapoor to be extradited from Germany

Subhash Kapoor, the US-based  dealer in South Asian antiquities who recently nastily attacked fellow blogger Damien Huffer has lost his battle to prevent him being extradited to India. Kapoor was born in Gorakhpur (in Uttar Pradesh), but moved to the US more than three decades ago and set up an antiquities gallery in New York.  The dealer is accused of being involved in the theft of ancient idols from a temple in Ariyalur district. Interpol has agreed to hand Kapoor over to the Tamil Nadu police, who are sending three men to Germany to receive him and take him back.

The probe against Kapoor began in 2008 when then idol wing inspector-general of police J K Tripathy, now Chennai commissioner, received an anonymous email about the presence of many Indian idols at an antique shop in the US. Police were then probing the theft of 18 panchaloha idols from the Sri Sundareswarar and Varadarajaperumal Temple at Udayarpalayamin in Ariyalur on April 13, 2008. [...]  Kapoor is in Cologne prison after being detained at Frankfurt on October 30, 2011. He was arrested based on an Interpol red corner notice when he went there to visit an exhibition. Though Kapoor will be formally arrested in the Ariyalur case alone, the idol wing of the state police is hoping that it will be able extract information from him on other idols stolen from the state..

The Sri Sundareswarar and Varadarajaperumal Temple are in fact sited in Suthamalli village, just south of  Udayarpalayamin Ariyalur district

A Selvaraj, 'Antique smuggler (sic) Subash Kapoor to be extradited from Germany', Times of India, July 8th 2012.

(footnote: "panchaloha idols", sacred images made of a particular alloy).

Photo: The unhappy Mr Kapoor (Singapore Times).