Nirav Modi, currently being held in London for the Punjab National Bank (PNB) scam, had his art collection go under the hammer in an auction held on the night of the 26th of March.
In a first of its kind, 68 paintings, which were a part of Modi’s private art collection, were sold at the auction. Out of these, 55 oil paintings were sold for Rs. 54 crores.
The rare oil paintings which went under the hammer included paintings by artists like V.S. Gaitonde, Raja Ravi Varma, F.N. Souza, K.K. Hebbar, Jogen Chowdhury, Akbar Padamse and Arpana Caur. Apart from these rare works, there were also a couple of paintings by contemporary artists from China.
The costliest painting to be sold from the collection was an unnamed one by Gaitonde, painted in 1973. This Gaitonde painting was sold for Rs. 22 crores, making it the fourth most expensive painting by Gaitonde so far.
Conducted in the form of live bids, online bids and mobile bids, the auction was held by SaffronArt on behalf of the recovery officer of the Income Tax (IT) Department in Mumbai, which recently sealed some of the properties owned by Nirav Modi.
According to a notification issued by the IT Department, the person who wins the bid must make 10 % of the payment within the first four days of buying the painting. The rest of the amount must be paid within a month.
“We were expecting to collect between Rs 30-50 crore (sic.,)” said Dinesh Vazirani, CEO and cofounder of SaffronArt, which was selected as the official auctioneer by IT officials after a screening process.
Six artworks were said to have crossed the 1 crore mark, while thirteen paintings went unsold.
Nirav Modi was arrested on the 20th of March in London, while trying to open a bank account. Modi was arrested on the grounds of owing close to Rs. 14,000 crores to the PNB.
With his first bail request denied, Modi is expected to soon request for bail for the second time.
Stay tuned for more updates.
