On 30 September, Navtej Sarna, High Commissioner of India in London received a 12th century sculpture of Brahma and Brahmani, recovered by the Art Loss Register (ALR), the world’s largest private database of lost and stolen art, antiques and collectables.
In November 2001, the 12th century sculpture was stolen from the UNESCO World Heritage Site at Rani-ki-Vav in Patan in Gujarat. The sculpture was recovered by the London-based ALR after it resurfaced in London in 2015 in an advertisement by an art dealer. It was detected by the Archaeological Survey of India and because of efforts of Dr Kirit Mankodi, a retired archaeologist who has been tirelessly working on the recovery of stolen Indian art. Following an examination by a team of experts from the Archaeological Survey of India the sculpture has now been authenticated as original. The artefact was handed over to ALR after the owner realised that it was procured illegally.