New York (The Hawk): Alvin Bragg, the public defender of New York, has returned to Pakistan and India hundreds of looted artefacts, some dating back 5,500 years, that were brought into the country by a network that was reportedly directed by the convicted antiquity smuggler Subash Kapoor.
According to Bragg's office in Manhattan, investigations into Kapoor's global predations in India, Pakistan, Afghanistan, Cambodia, Indonesia, Myanmar, Nepal, Sri Lanka, Thailand, and other nations resulted in the seizure of 235 artefacts from India, including numerous precious images from temples.
The office claimed that the illicit goods were sold through Kapoor's Art of the Past exhibition in Manhattan.
One of the items, a marble sculpture from the 12th or 13th century known as the Arch Parikara, was returned by Yale University Art Gallery after being donated by a family foundation that had acquired it from Kapoor.
The leaders of numerous sophisticated trafficking networks, according to Bragg, "showed little respect for the cultural or historical worth of these artefacts" when they took these treasures.
The prosecutor has just begun returning stolen artwork to its original nations, including Israel, Italy, Egypt, and Cambodia.
According to Bragg's office, a total of 307 items worth around $4 million were presented to India's Consul General Randhir Jaiswal at a ceremony last month.
Five of the Indian artefacts, according to the office, were taken while Nancy Wiener and her late mother Doris Wiener were being investigated for smuggling.
A statue of Lord Vishnu and Goddess Lakshmi with Garuda from the 11th century that was taken from a temple in central India, according to the office, was taken from them and was on its way back to India.
According to his office, Bragg also delivered a Lord Vishnu statue made of sandstone that Doris Wiener had traded after stealing it from a shrine.
According to the prosecutor's office, one of the products from India was discovered during Nayef Homsi investigations, and the other 66 were taken by various minor trafficking organisations.
It said that over 2,500 items worth over $143 million that were trafficked by Kapoor and his network had been confiscated during more than ten years of investigations that began in 2011.
Despite the fact that Kapoor was one of the most active antiquities smugglers in the world, Bragg added, "due to the work of our committed detectives and analysts, we have been able to recover thousands of objects plundered by his network."
Kapoor and five of his collaborators, including Sanjivi Asokan, were found guilty earlier this month by a special court in Tamil Nadu's Kumbakonam of stealing holy objects from temples to sell abroad.
The Operation Hidden Idol arrest of Kapoor in Germany in 2011 resulted in his extradition to India, where he was given a 10-year term.
According to the prosecutor's office, arrest warrants have been issued for Kapoor and five of his collaborators, and Bragg is requesting their extradition so they can be tried in New York.
Last Monday, Bragg repatriated to Pakistan 192 statues and figurines worth a combined $3.4 million, 187 of which, according to his office, were discovered during the probe against Kapoor.
They included what are known as the Mehrgarh Dolls, terracotta statues of the mother goddess that were taken from the Mehrgarh archaeological site in Pakistan and are thought to date from between 3500 and 2600 BCE.
Another was a statue from the Gandharan era, which lasted from 1000 to 2000 BCE, showing the Lord Buddha in his Maitreya incarnation.
According to the prosecutor's office, they were taken from storage spaces owned by the Art of the Past gallery.
According to the office, the Butt Network of Zahid Parvez and Zeeshan Butt used family businesses located in Islamabad, Bangkok, Hong Kong, and Dubai to allegedly pilfer and smuggle the Maitreya statue.
It also stated that the network supplied the worldwide art market with stolen artefacts from nations such as Afghanistan, Pakistan, and India.
According to Bragg's office, five of Kapoor's accomplices — Richar Salmon, Neil Perry, Selina Mohammed, Aaron Freedman, and Sushma Sareen — have previously been found guilty in US courts.
(Inputs from Agencies)

Alvin Bragg, the public defender of New York, has returned to Pakistan and India hundreds of looted artefacts, some dating back 5,500 years, that were brought into the country by a network that was reportedly directed by the convicted antiquity smuggler Subash Kapoor.

A prosecutor in New York returns stolen antiques to India and Pakistan

Bengaluru: Karnataka police have arrested Arati Dayal, the alleged kingpin of honey trap scandal that rocked Madhya Pradesh four years ago, in Bengaluru in connection with a theft case, police said on Thursday.
The accused has been arrested by Mahadevapura police in Bengaluru following the complaint by her roommate alleging theft of Rs 10 lakh worth jewels and cash. The complaint was lodged on September 6 and after interrogation, the accused woman was sent to judicial custody.
The accused who was absconding in Chennai was tracked down and arrested.
According to police, the accused worked as a therapist at spa centres and stayed at a colleague’s room. The police got to know about the background of the accused while questioning her after the arrest.
The Karnataka police have informed about the arrest of the kingpin to the Madhya Pradesh police department. The police are looking into her involvement in other crimes in Bengaluru.
The police have also gathered information on the accused disguised as Arati, Sonu, Samantha, Agarwal in Chennai and other cities and worked in spas.
The honey trap scandal had come to light in 2019 when the Madhya Pradesh police had arrested the accused's associate Shweta in connection with honey trapping an engineer attached to Indore City Corporation.
The subsequent probe revealed that the gang of Arati Dayal targetted government officers, politicians and influential persons and carried out honey trap operations. The videos of politicians also came out making it a national news.
Dayal obtained bail from the court in 2020. The Indore bench of Madhya Pradesh High Court had recently questioned the public prosecutor on the whereabouts of the accused as she had gone off the radar.
The court had further questioned whether the accused Arati Dayal was alive or dead.
Further investigation is on.
—IANS

Karnataka police have arrested Arati Dayal, the alleged kingpin of honey trap scandal that rocked Madhya Pradesh four years

Woman kingpin of honey trap scam caught in theft case in B’luru

Derna (Libya): Following the deadly Libya flood which claimed the lives of thousands of people, Libya's chief prosecutor ordered the detention of eight current and former officials pending his investigation, reported Al Jazeera.  Last month, two dams collapsed outside the city of Derna, which sent a wall of water several metres high through the city and caused the deadly flood.  The office of General Prosecutor Al-Siddiq Al-Sour in a statement stated that the prosecutors on Sunday questioned seven former and current officials with the Water Resources Authority and the Dams Management Authority over allegations that mismanagement, negligence and mistakes led to the disaster, Al Jazeera reported. Moreover, Derna Mayor Abdulmenam al-Ghaithi, who was sacked after the disaster, was also questioned, the statement said. However, these eight officials did not provide any evidence to prove them innocent of these potential charges. Moreover, the prosecutors put them behind bars pending the completion of the investigation, the statement said. Adding to this, Al-Sour said that eight other officials would be summoned for questioning.  He further noted that last week two dams upstream from Derna had been cracked since 1998. However, repair work was started by a Turkish company in 2010, but was suspended after a few months when Libya's 2011 uprising flared and the work never resumed then. The prosecutor further promised to deal firmly with those responsible, according to Al Jazeera. His office noted that the investigation is focused on a dam maintenance contract reached between the Turkish firm and Libya’s water department. Last week, Sour also said that the local authorities, previous governments, and the allocation of the dams’ maintenance funds will also be scrutinised. “I reassure citizens that whoever made mistakes or negligence, prosecutors will certainly take firm measures, file a criminal case against him and send him to trial,” al-Sour said at a news conference on Friday, according to Al Jazeera. Reportedly, the United Nations revised the death toll from Libya floods to 3958, and over 9000 injured. In Derna, which has an estimated population of at least 120,000, entire districts were swept away or buried in brown mud. The UN's humanitarian affairs office said it had initiated an appeal for USD 71 million to aid those affected by the disaster. The World Health Organization has also taken action, flying in emergency aid to reach nearly 2,50,000 people in eastern Libya, providing essential medicines, surgery supplies, and body bags. —ANI

Following the deadly Libya flood which claimed the lives of thousands of people, Libya's chief prosecutor ordered the detention

Libya Flood: Top Prosecutor Arrests Eight Current, Former Officials

Mumbai/Paris: A plane carrying more than 300 passengers, mostly Indians, is expected to land at Mumbai airport on Monday afternoon, three days after it was detained by French authorities over suspected human trafficking, a source said.
The A340 aircraft, being operated by Romania's Legend Airlines, is expected to land at Mumbai airport around 2:20 pm. The plane has taken off from the airport at Vatry near Paris where it was grounded, the source said.  The Nicaragua-bound flight that had taken off from Dubai in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) with 303 passengers was grounded at Vatry airport, 150 kilometres east of Paris, on Thursday over suspected 'human trafficking'.  Also Read: <a href="https://www.thehawk.in/posts/birthday-surprise-horror:-transsexual-burns-childhood-friend-alive-in-chennai" target="_self">https://www.thehawk.in/posts/birthday-surprise-horror:-transsexual-burns-childhood-friend-alive-in-chennai</a>&nbsp;
On Sunday, four French judges questioned the detained passengers.  The hearings were conducted as part of the investigation opened by the Paris prosecutor's office on the suspicion of human trafficking.  According to the French media, some of the passengers spoke Hindi and the others Tamil.  After authorising the plane to leave, the French judges on Sunday chose to cancel the hearings of the passengers due to irregularities in the procedure.  The plane includes 11 unaccompanied minors. Two passengers in custody since Friday had their detention extended on Saturday evening for up to 48 hours, according to French prosecutors.
—PTI

A plane carrying more than 300 passengers, mostly Indians, is expected to land at Mumbai airport on Monday afternoon

Plane grounded over suspected 'human trafficking', to land at Mumbai airport with 300 passengers, mostly Indians

Ankara: Turkish authorities have detained 33 people suspected of carrying out espionage for Israel's Mossad intelligence service, the state-run Anadolu news agency said on Tuesday, adding 13 others were being sought by police.
Anadolu said police had carried out simultaneous raids in 57 locations across eight provinces as part of an investigation that the counter-terrorism bureau of the Istanbul prosecutor's office had launched.  Without citing sources, it said the suspects were believed to be aiming to identify, monitor, assault and kidnap foreign nationals living in Turkey as part of "international espionage" operations.
—Reuters

Turkish authorities have detained 33 people suspected of carrying out espionage for Israel's Mossad intelligence service

Turkey detains 33 people suspected of espionage for Israel's Mossad

Russian artillery fire into the city of Kherson in southern Ukraine on Monday killed four people and injured at least one other person, local officials said.
Kherson and surrounding areas come under regular Russian shelling, facing numerous air alerts throughout the day. Russian forces target Kherson from occupied territory on the eastern bank of the major Dnipro river that dissects the region.
Video from the site, released by the regional prosecutor's office, showed a completely burnt-out car that caught fire after an explosion, with two bodies found inside, officials said.  A 66-year-old woman outdoors during the attack was also killed and another man died in hospital from his injuries, the prosecutors said on the Telegram messaging app.  Almost an entire two years into its full-scale invasion of Ukraine, Russia holds swathes of the country's east and south, with front lines largely static for many months.
—Reuters

Deadly Russian artillery strikes in Kherson, Ukraine. Four killed, one injured. Escalation in conflict. Updates from regional prosecutor.

Four killed in Russian shelling of Ukraine's Kherson: Officials

Washington: The Seattle police officer who struck and killed Indian student Jaahnavi Kandula while responding to an overdose call, will not face any criminal charges due to lack of "sufficient" evidence, authorities said.
On Wednesday, the King County Prosecutor’s Office said they will not move forward with criminal charges against Seattle Police Officer Kevin Dave, FOX13 Seattle reported.  In a statement released Wednesday, the King County Prosecuting Attorney said, "Kandula’s death is heartbreaking and impacted communities in King County and across the world."  Kandula, 23, was struck by a police vehicle driven by Officer Dave when she was crossing a street in Seattle on January 23. He was driving 74 mph (more than 119 kmh) on the way to a report of a drug overdose call. Kandula was thrown 100 feet when she was struck by the speeding police patrol vehicle.  In bodycam footage released by the Seattle Police Department, Officer Daniel Auderer laughed about the deadly crash and dismissed any implication Dave might be at fault or that a criminal investigation was necessary.  King County Prosecuting Attorney Leesa Manion said that she believes they lack the evidence to prove a criminal case beyond a reasonable doubt, the report added.  "It is the responsibility of the King County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office to review all available evidence relating to the case involving Seattle Police Officer Kevin Dave and the January 2023 collision death of Jaahnavi Kandula. After staffing this case with senior deputy prosecuting attorneys and office leadership, I have determined that we lack sufficient evidence under Washington State law to prove a criminal case beyond a reasonable doubt."  The statement also said that the prosecutor's office also finds the comments made by Seattle Police Officer Daniel Auderer, recorded on his body-worn video, "appalling and deeply troubling."  Auderer, who was not involved in the January collision, was captured in the video saying, "But she is dead" and laughing while on the phone.  She was 26 anyway," Auderer said in the video. "She had limited value."  "Officer Auderer’s comments were also unprofessional and undermined the public’s trust in the Seattle Police Department and law enforcement in general," said Manion.  "As egregious as Officer Auderer’s comments are, they do not change the PAO’s legal analysis into the conduct of Officer Dave. It is the Office of Police Accountability that bears the responsibility of disciplinary investigation and proceedings relating to Officer Auderer’s comment, not the PAO."  Auderer was pulled from patrol in September 2023 and reassigned to a "non-operational position."  Auderer could still be fired after the fallout of his insensitive comments captured on bodycam.  Auderer's chain of command and the Office of Police Accountability (OPA) found he acted unprofessionally. For that, he faces the highest disciplinary range of nearly two weeks suspension up to termination, according to a disciplinary action report.  Before a final disciplinary decision, Auderer will have the chance to meet with Police Chief Adrian Diaz to disagree.  His disciplinary hearing is scheduled for March 4, K5 News reported.  Seattle local media reported that speed was the cause of the collision, as the speed at which Dave was travelling did "not allow (Kandula) or him sufficient time to detect, address and avoid a hazard that presented itself."  Dave was responding to a "priority one" call at the request of the Seattle Fire Department, according to the Seattle Police Department. According to the police report, the officer was responding to a report of a drug overdose.  The officer did not have his siren activated continuously. Instead, the officer "chirped" his siren at the intersection. He did have his emergency lights on, according to a previous statement from the police department.  In a memo to Seattle police, prosecutors wrote there was not enough evidence to prove Dave showed "conscious disregard for others safety."  A drug recognition expert responded to the scene and found no impairment in the officer.  Kandula was a graduate student at Northeastern University at the Seattle campus. The university said in January 2023 that they would award her degree posthumously and present it to her family.
—PTI

Seattle officer not charged in Jaahnavi Kandula death. Lack of evidence sparks controversy. Shocking bodycam footage and comments by another officer deepen public concern.

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A prosecutor in New York returns stolen antiques to India and Pakistan

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A prosecutor in New York returns stolen antiques to India and Pakistan

Pankaj Sharma

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