Tyeb Mehta's 'Kali' sold for a record Rs 26.4 cr
New Delhi, June 14: In a record-breaking sale at an online auction on Thursday, Tyeb Mehta's iconic painting "Kali" (1989) was sold at a whooping Rs 26.4 crore, setting a new record for the artist.
The painting represents the eternal cosmic dilemma of the human condition: the battle of good and evil, creation and destruction.
The Summer Online Auction by Saffronart, an international player in the art market, witnessed this sale.
"Modernist Tyeb Mehta has tonight achieved a new world record at Rs 26.4 crore (approximately $4 million) with the sale of Untitled (Kali), 1989, at Saffronart's Summer Online Auction," Saffronart said in a statement.
Mehta's previous world record was held by leading auction house Christie's. In May 2017, Untitled (Woman on Rickshaw), 1994, was sold at a Christie's auction for $3.56 million (Rs 22.99 crores).
The buyer then was New Delhi's Kiran Nadar Museum of Art.
Saffronart has not revealed who bought "Kali", with a representative saying that disclosing the identity of the buyer was against their policy.
"The sale of Tyeb Mehta's Kali marks an important achievement in modern Indian art sales, and paves the way forward for online auctions of Indian art," Dinesh Vazirani, CEO and Co-founder of Saffronart told IANS after the sale was announced.
"In our 18 years as India's leading auction house, our focus has been to make the best of Indian art accessible to audiences around the world," he added.
Mehta's "Kali" is the largest of only three standing figures painted by the artist.
It was once part of the art collection of the eminent theatre director, Ebrahim Alkazi.
Mehta, who spent most of his life in Mumbai, passed away there on July 2, 2009 following a heart attack. He was a recipient of the Padma Bhushan in 2007.
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Nashik court sends ‘godman’ Kharat to seven-day judicial custody in third rape case
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Nashik (PTI): A court in Maharashtra's Nashik on Monday remanded self-styled godman Ashok Kharat to judicial custody till April 20 in a third case of rape against him for allegedly sexually exploiting a pregnant woman.
The special investigation team (SIT) produced Kharat for a virtual hearing in the court of Chief Judicial Magistrate B N Ichpurani as his police custody in the case ended on Monday.
The SIT presented the remand report and sought judicial custody for Kharat, a former merchant navy officer. The court then remanded him to a seven-day judicial custody till April 20.
In the third case, Kharat, who was first arrested in mid-March, is accused of sexually exploiting a seven-month pregnant woman, the wife of his office staffer.
According to the complaint lodged by the victim's husband, the accused sexually assaulted the survivor on multiple occasions, including in his office in Nashik, between November 2023 and December 2025.
Kharat also conducted a ritual with the pregnant woman at a temple in Mirgaon village of Sinnar taluka of the district, it said.
Although the victim informed her husband about her plight, he did not believe her. But when he heard about complaints of Kharat's misbehaviour with other women, he planted a spy camera in the astrologer's office to find out the truth and recorded his acts.
The employee later handed over to the police a pen drive containing objectionable videos of the 'godman'.
Kharat faces nearly a dozen cases, eight of them related to sexual assaults.
The SIT, meanwhile, has filed an application in the court demanding Kharat's custody in another case. As the court granted them the necessary permission, the team will take the accused's custody from the Nashik Road Central Jail.
Kharat will be produced in court again in the fourth case on Tuesday.
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