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Shipping executive based in Singapore played key role in return of stolen Indian artefacts
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Mr S. Vijay Kumar leveraged this vast network of contacts and Indian archives to track down dozens of stolen art.
PHOTO: S. VIJAY KUMAR
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NEW DELHI - In 1971, a 10th century bronze statue of Nataraja - a symbol of the Hindu god Shiva as the cosmic dancer - was stolen from the Punnainallur Temple in Thanjavur in Tamil Nadu, the south Indian state.
Some five decades later, in 2018, Mr S. Vijay Kumar, began tracking it based on a tip from another art aficionado. The 48-year-old Indian national was then working as a shipping executive in Singapore.
