Kapoor was earlier arrested in Chennai.
By Deepak Chitnis
WASHINGTON, DC: Disgraced art dealer Subhash Kapoor’s girlfriend, Selina Mohamed, has been indicted and charged with criminal count for her complicity in the scheme through which Kapoor sold stolen works of art from South and Southeast Asia to museums for millions of dollars.
Kapoor was at the head of a ring that sold several prized artifacts to museums around the world, artifacts which were later found out to have been stolen. Although there is an active arrest warrant out for Kapoor here in the US, he has already been arrested in Chennai, where he is being held and is awaiting trial. Mohamed, in addition to facing criminal charges of stealing and selling art, is facing charges for hiding four stolen bronze sculptures from investigators.
Kapoor’s scam goes as far back as 1992, at which point he started fabricating entire ownership histories and certificates of authenticities for stolen works of art. Over the past two decades, it’s estimated that he sold stolen art for as much as tens of million dollars, if not more.
Mohamed’s part in the fraud came in the form of storage for the stolen goods. Investigators have uncovered evidence that, at various points, she was in control of the majority of Kapoor’s storage facilities.
The National Gallery of Australia initiated legal proceedings against Kapoor earlier this month when it discovered that a 900 year-old Shiva statue Kapoor had sold them for $5 million was actually stolen. The museum has displayed the piece since 2007, and is now in communication with the Indian government to return it.
In addition to the work sold to the National Gallery of Australia, Kapoor is known to have sold artifacts to the University of Florida’s Harn Museum in Gainsville, Florida and the Peabody Essex Museum in Salem, Massachusetts, as well as Singapore’s Asian Civilisation’s Museum and several other museums around the world.
To contact the author, email to deepakchitnis@americanbazaaronline.com