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₹2.5 crore Raza painting stolen from Ballard Pier auction house warehouse
An S H Raza painting, valued at ₹2.50 crore, has been stolen from a Mumbai auction house. Police have registered an FIR against an unknown thief
MUMBAI: An S H Raza painting, titled ‘Prakriti’ priced around ₹2.50 crore, has been reported stolen from the Ballard Pier warehouse of a prominent Mumbai auction house.
The Mata Ramabai Ambedkar (MRA) Marg police have registered an FIR against an unknown thief on Monday, following a recent complaint by 37-year-old Siddhant Shetty, the chief administrative officer of AstaGuru Auction House Private Limited, in Fort.
The police say, the owner of the work is a certain Inder Veer, a Mumbai resident, who had given the canvas to AstaGuru in 2020 for auctioning. Before it was handed over to the auction house, the Tao Art Gallery, in Worli, had valued the painting at ₹2.50 crore.
Senior inspector Santosh Dhanwate, of the MRA Marg police station, said the staff of the warehouse had last seen the painting on March 24, 2022. The theft came to light after the owner of the painting called the auction house in March, 2024, to put it up for auctioning. Soon after Veer’s call, members of the staff looked though over 1500 paintings kept at the warehouse but could not locate the Raza. The search was aborted on May 30, 2024.
It is believed that this piece by the late artist was supposed to be auctioned along with works by M F Husain, Krishen Khanna and Anjolie Ela Menon earlier this week. The 47.2X15.7-inch 1992 acrylic on canvas showcased Raza’s evolution from early abstract landscapes to spiritual geometric configurations.
According to investigating officers, the work was most likely stolen between March 24, 2022, and May 30, 2024. While Shetty gave a written application to the police recently, the FIR was registered only on Monday. A case was registered under section 380 (theft in any building, tent or vessel) of the Indian Police Code, said Dhanwate.
Police’s attempt to nail the thief by going through the CCTV footage of the warehouse was futile, as DVR has data stored only for the last two months. “We have started recording statements of the warehouse’s employees and drawing a list of those who may have quit their jobs in the last two years,” said a police officer.
While Shetty did not pick up this reporter’s calls for a comment, founder of AstaGuru Vickram Sethi reserved comment on the issue.
