Was sold fake Bawa, Souza, nine more paintings for ₹17.9 cr, alleges exec

The India head of TPG Capital has filed a complaint alleging that he was sold fake paintings by leading Indian artists worth ₹17.9 crore ($2.4 million). The complaint names solicitor Vishwang Desai and art dealer Rajesh Rajpal as the men who duped him. The accused have been booked under various sections of the Indian Penal Code.

The India head of the US-based private equity firm TPG Capital filed a complaint with Tardeo police late on Monday night alleging that he was sold paintings by leading Indian artists worth ₹ 17.9 crore which turned out to be fakes. In his complaint, Bhatia named solicitor Vishwang Desai and art dealer Rajesh Rajpal, the owner of Art India International at Churchgate, as the men who duped him.

HT Image

Puneet Bhatia, who recently started building his personal art collection, told police that 11 of the paintings he bought from Rajpal, including a Manjit Bawa and an FN Souza, turned out to be forgeries. In his complaint, he told police that he was introduced to Desai, managing partner in the law firm Desai and Diwanji, at a friend’s party in January of 2022. Bhatia told police that he was impressed by Desai’s knowledge about Indian art and he bought his claims of long experience in buying and selling art at face value. As their friendship cemented, Desai allegedly told Bhatia to invest in art and offered to help him source the “right” artworks. According to Bhatia’s statement to police, Desai talked up Rajesh Rajpal’s credentials as an art dealer and spoke about his office at Churchgate and his art gallery at Cuffe Parade to establish Rajpal’s bona fides.

It was in the course of their many conversations about art and investment that Desai first told him about a Manjit Bawa painting titled Krishna with Cows which was up for sale for ₹ 6.75 crore. “I was told that the current owner of the painting was a retired IAS officer called Subrata Banerjee who lived in Bhopal,” said Bhatia in his police complaint. Desai also told him about a painting by FN Souza which was available for ₹1.75 crore, and which was allegedly owned by the head of an erstwhile princely state in Madhya Pradesh.

In early February this year, Bhatia was told that Banerjee was about to leave for London and the deal needed to be made before that. “I was told that Rajpal was in Bhopal to bring both the Bawa and the Souza to Mumbai.” Bhatia, who was then based in Gurugram, asked Rajpal to courier the two paintings to his bungalow instead.

Within days of him receiving the art consignment, Desai provided him with the requisite certificates of authenticity, self-attested and notarised certificates of provenance from the previous owners, and the invoices from Art India International.

Happy with his purchase, Bhatia bought nine more paintings from Rajpal, paying a total of ₹17.9 crores, according to his complaint. The paintings, he said, were showcased on the walls of his home when some friends raised suspicions about their authenticity. It was only then that Bhatia began making independent enquiries into the provenance and authenticity of the artworks. “I also reached out to the said bureaucrat Mr Banerjee through my own sources but he denied ever owning the Manjeet Bawa painting or having sold any other painting by the artist,” Bhatia told police.

He next approached a Mumbai-based company, Structured Systems, which specialises in forensic examination of handwriting and authenticating of artworks. They assessed the signatures of the respective artists appearing at the bottom of the paintings and informed Bhatia that they were forged. Based on this report from Structured Systems, Bhatia confronted the Desai and Rajpal, and demanded they return his money. He told police that while Desai first sought time, he later began evading his calls.

Solicitor denies role

When contacted, Desai denied his role in the dubious sale and told HT that he merely introduced Bhatia to the art dealer, and that they made the deal with the respective owner of the Bawa and the Souza. “I am not the person who sold the paintings to Bhatia,” he said, before going on to add that as an art connoisseur he himself had bought several artworks from Rajpal, and had in fact bought some paintings from the same lot as Bhatia.

As far as he knew, he said, the respective owners of the paintings had given Bhatia sworn affidavits and that Rajpal too had provided him with certificates of authenticity. He also said, defending Rajpal, who is not a well-known name in Mumbai’s art circuit, that on Bhatia’s request, the art dealer had taken four of the painting sold to Bhatia and sold them to other buyers. The remaining seven artworks however could not be sold because the investment banker has refused to issue consent notes for them.

A representative from Structured Systems told HT they get frequent requests for authentication of artworks, and that most requests come to them through lawyers and independent agencies. Refusing to comment on Bhatia’s specific complaint, a representative, speaking on condition of anonymity, said: “We can only say that this kind cheating with art works happens far more often than most people realise.”

An officer with Tardeo police said the two accused had been booked under sections 120-B (criminal conspiracy), 406 (criminal breach of trust), 420 (cheating and dishonesty), 467 (forgery of a valuable security, will or authority to transfer any valuable security), 468 (using forged documents for the purpose of cheating) and 471 (using forged documents as genuine) of the Indian Penal Code based on Bhatia’s complaint.

Both Rajpal and Bhatia remained unavailable for comment despite several efforts to reach out to them.