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11th century TMA statue may have been stolen in India

The United States Justice Department is investigation the possibility that a sculpture from the 11 th century may have been stolen before it was bought by the Toledo Museum of Art.
This 11th century statue of the Hindu god Ganesha may have been stolen before it was sold to the Toledo Museum of Art.

TOLEDO, OH (Toledo News Now) - The United States JusticeDepartment is investigation the possibility that a sculpture from the 11thcentury may have been stolen before it was bought by the Toledo Museum of Art.

The small statue of theHindu god Ganesha was purchased by the museum from an art dealer in 2006. The museumsays the dealer, Subhash Kapoor, was later arrested.

"That created shock wavesthroughout the art world," said TMA Communications Director Kelly Garrow.

Garrow says the museumbegan an internal investigation. Things picked up with the museum heard frompolice in southern India that a sculpture similar to their Ganesha statue hadbeen reported stolen.

"So we decided to write asecond letter to a government officer and post everything we had purchased fromSubhash Kapoor on our website and inquire from the public any informationanyone had," said Garrow.

Two days later, the JusticeDepartment informed the museum they are looking into the matter.

Garrow says the museumalways researches art dealers before buying anything, and never saw thesecharges coming.

"Unfortunately thisparticular art dealer, even though he had a spotless reputation for 35 years inthe business, at some point he allegedly started dealing stolen property and wewere a victim of that," said Garrow.

The statue will remain atthe Toledo Museum of Art until the investigation is completed.

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