NGMA Mumbai Seeks CBI Nod to Display 68 Seized Artworks Tied to DHFL Case

The National Gallery of Modern Art (NGMA) in Mumbai has asked the Central Bureau of Investigation for permission to put on public view a collection of seized artworks linked to the Dewan Housing Finance Limited (DHFL) fraud case, a matter that has now reached a Delhi court.

Sixty-five paintings and three sculptures have been held in the museum's storage for nearly two years. Among them are Tyeb Mehta's Bull, valued at more than Rs 27 crore; a Manjit Bawa work estimated at over Rs 7.7 crore; S.H. Raza's Village, an oil-on-canvas from 1956 valued at over Rs 3.50 crore; and an oil-on-linen work by F.N. Souza from 1964, valued at Rs 2 crore.

The works belong to accused persons standing trial in the alleged Rs 34,000-crore DHFL fraud. The case was registered on a complaint by the Union Bank of India, the lead bank of a 17-bank consortium that had extended credit facilities of more than Rs 42,000 crore to DHFL since 2010. Of this, Rs 34,615 crore remains outstanding, and the banks have accused DHFL of siphoning off Rs 34,900 crore. According to the CBI, the company diverted Rs 11,700 crore to 87 shell companies, 81 of them linked to the Wadhawan group, whose members are key accused in the case.

On August 5, NGMA Mumbai Director Nidhi Choudhari, an IAS officer, wrote to the CBI seeking permission to display the works as part of the gallery's curated exhibitions. The CBI has since moved an application before Special Judge Sanjeev Kumar Malhotra of Rouse Avenue Court.

The artworks first reached the gallery through a court direction. On September 6, 2024, the then Special Judge Ashwani Kumar Sarpal was hearing a plea by Deepak Ravi Kapoor, a prosecution witness, seeking the return of two Manjit Bawa and Tyeb Mehta paintings whose market value the prosecution put at around Rs 30 crore. The Wadhawans had bought the two works from the online auction house Astaguru on June 11, 2018, and the CBI seized them on July 8, 2022, from the house of a co-accused, arguing they had been bought with diverted funds and were therefore case property.

While rejecting Kapoor's plea for the paintings' return, the court directed the CBI to shift them to a national museum, a well-known government museum or a reputed art gallery, including the National Art Gallery, for preservation in a controlled atmosphere, with instructions to produce them whenever required. The court noted that the CBI could not dispute that the costly paintings needed to be kept away from moisture and in controlled temperature, and that the CBI was not equipped to preserve them in its Malkhana. The works were to remain there until the trial concluded, with preservation expenses borne by the CBI unless the institution waived them. Other artworks were seized subsequently and are also at the Mumbai gallery.

The matter returned to court after the CBI filed a fresh application seeking directions in connection with the NGMA letter. The court took it up on September 8. On September 14, lawyers for the accused submitted that the letter did not specify who would bear the loss if the works were damaged, whether they would be insured, or for how long the gallery intended to display the 65 paintings and three sculptures. A day later, the CBI told the court that the NGMA director was seeking permission to display the artworks on a regular basis or until further directions. The court will hear the plea on September 24.