Manhattan DA: RVC Woman Aided in Antiquities Smuggling

The Manhattan district attorney has charged a Rockville Centre woman for allegedly aiding in her brother’s smuggling operation by hiding millions of dollars of Indian antiquities.

Sushma Sareen, 60, was charged with four counts of first-degree criminal possession of stolen property after she allegedly moved and stored four bronze statues worth a total of $14.5 million.

Her brother, Subhash Kapoor, a longtime Upper East Side art dealer who ran a business called Art of the Past, has been in jail in India since last year, according to the New York Times. Some $10 million worth of antiquities were recovered after a search of Kapoor’s storage units. Sareen then allegedly arranged to have the four bronze statues moved.

The DA’s criminal complaint said that Sareen allegedly took over her brother’s business operations after he was arrested. She apparently traveled to India to contact the smuggling network and set up wire transfers.  

The pieces, which have ended up in museums and private art collections around the world, were stolen from the Varadharaja Parumi temple in India between February and April 2008.

Sareen has been released on $10,000 bail.