A stone statue of Buddha held at the National Gallery of Australia (NGA) in Canberra will be returned to India after it was discovered to have been stolen.
The statue was bought by Roslyn Packer for NGA from an American antiques dealer for in 2007.
It was later discovered that it had been stolen from an archaeological site in India and the dealer had claimed it was bought from a British collector in Hong Kong.
The Australian government will now return the sculpture to India, The Times of India reports.
This is not the first time stolen works have been returned to India.
In September 2013, a 900-year-old bronze statue - also housed in the NGA - was returned to India after it was found to be stolen.
The "Dancing Shiva" work had been purchased from New York art dealer Subhash Kapoor for more than $5 million in 2007.
Kapoor is facing trial in Chennai, India, for allegedly trafficking stolen antiquities, including that statue, from two Indian temples.
- With AAP
