Paintings missing from IARI at Sotheby's

A Delhi court has issued Letters Rogatory to the Home Office, UK, to allow CBI to probe the case of a famous Russian artist's paintings being stolen from the IARI here and presented to a London auction house by a Pakistani and a British resident.

A Delhi court has issued Letters Rogatory to the Home Office, UK, to allow CBI to probe the case of a famous Russian artist's paintings being stolen from the IARI here and presented to a London auction house by a Pakistani and a British resident.

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The case pertains to 13 paintings of Russian painter Nicholas Roerich, including two paintings titled 'Himalaya Kanchenjunga' and 'Sunset Kashmir' which were in possession of Indian Agricultural Research Institute, Pusa Road. The two paintings were found stolen from

the library of IARI where they were hanging till May 30, 2009, when accused NS Pakhale retired as head of library services.

Pakhale handed over the keys of library office to his successor 15 days after retirement.

After Pakhale's retirement in 2009, it came to IARI's notice that the two paintings were presented to Sotheby's London for auction by Zahid Nazir, a resident of Pakistan and Rafay Nazir Khan, a resident of Park Street in London.