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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'Low-quality' catheters supplied to West Bengal govt hospitals at high price, probe ordered
Kolkata (PTI): The West Bengal health department has launched a probe into the supplies of allegedly low-quality and locally made catheters at a high price to several government hospitals, posing a risk to the lives of patients undergoing treatment in these facilities, officials said.
Such central venous catheters (CVCs) were allegedly supplied to at least five medical colleges and hospitals in the state, defying allocation of international standard-compliant CVCs, they said.
The distribution company, which has been accused of supplying these catheters to government hospitals, admitted to the fault but placed the blame on its employees.
"We started checking stocks some time back and found these locally made CVCs in my hospital store. These catheters are of low quality as compared to those allocated by the state. We have informed the state health department," a senior official of the Calcutta Medical College and Hospital told PTI.
Low-quality catheters were also found in the stores of other hospitals, which indicates "possible involvement of insiders in the scam", a health department official said.
The low-quality CVCs were supplied by a distributor in the Hatibagan area in the northern part of Kolkata for the last three to four months, he said.
"Such kinds of local CVCs are priced around Rs 1,500 but the distributor took Rs 4,177 for each device," the official said.
A CVC is a thin and flexible tube that is inserted into a vein to allow for the administration of fluids, blood, and other treatment. It's also clinically called a central line catheter.
"An initial probe revealed that the distribution company Prakash Surgical had supplied the low-quality and locally manufactured catheters to several government hospitals instead of the CVCs of the government-designated international company.
"All the units will be tested and a proper investigation is on to find out who benefited from these supplies," the health department official said.
The distribution company blamed its employees for the supply of inferior quality catheters.
"I was sick for a few months. Some employees of the organisation made this mistake. We are taking back all those units that have gone to the hospitals. It's all about misunderstanding," an official of the distribution company told PTI.
According to another state health department official, a complaint was lodged with the police in this connection.
Asked about how many patients were affected by the usage of such low-quality CVCs, the official said, "The probe would also try to find that out".
According to sources in the health department, some of the staff of the hospitals' equipment receiving departments and some local officials of international organisations might be involved in the alleged irregularities.
