Subhash Kapoor to be sued for selling 900-year-old Shiva statue in Australia?

The National Gallery of Australia said on Saturday that it will launch legal action against art dealer Subhash Kapoor after it was confirmed that its prized 900-year-old dancing Shiva Nataraja was stolen from India. The NGA, who had paid five million dollars for the item, has approached the Indian High Commission to discuss avenues for its repatriation. The item was listed in court documents in the USA at the trial of Aaron M. Freedman:

which revealed it was "owned by the Central Government of India" after being stolen from Sivan Temple in Ariyalur District of Tamil Nadu. The theft took place between January and November 2006, after which the statue was shipped to New York. The metre-high figure of Shiva surrounded by a ring of fire was then shipped to Australia in October 2007. It is not yet known whether the statue was looted to order or whether the gallery bought it after it had been acquired by US-based Kapoor. Kapoor is being held in India where he is accused of being the mastermind of a USD 100 million antiquities looting enterprise.

The Shiva Nataraja is one of 14 items bought by the NGA for USD 11 million from Kapoor. The other antiquities are from Timor, Afghanistan or Pakistan and India.

Source:
'Indian art dealer Subhash Kapoor to be sued for selling 900-year-old Shiva statue in Australia', India Today December 7, 2013