Move comes after mayor Zohran Mamdani spoke on return of the Koh-i-noor diamond after UK royals’ visit to New York
Hundreds of antiquities valued at $14m have been returned to India by New York authorities, including some connected to the alleged art smuggler Subhash Kapoor, in a move that is likely to raise the pressure on others to make similar gestures.
The return of 657 antiquities was announced by the Manhattan district attorney, Alvin Bragg Jr, on Tuesday, and came as New York City’s mayor, Zohran Mamdani, waded into the historically contentious ownership of the 105.6 carat Koh-i-noor diamond.
Mamdani, the city’s first democratic socialist mayor, suggested to reporters that Britain should return the gem – which is set into the Queen Mother’s crown and held in the Tower of London – to India, hours before shaking hands with King Charles on Wednesday at the 9/11 memorial.
Mamdani’s press office did not mention meeting the British monarch in its daily scheduling Wednesday and later said: “I’ll be attending a wreath-laying alongside a number of other elected officials.”
