Air India's missing painting arrives at head office
A painting which went missing from Air India's archives, was recently delivered to the airline's head office via post. The package did not mention the sender's name and had the painting made by Jatin Das for Air India, in a rolled up and damaged condition. The address registered by the sender was found to be a fake one in Gurugram. 
On July 5th, India Today had reported that a painting, 'Flying Apsara', made by eminent painter Jatin Das for Air India in 1991 had gone missing from the airline's archives. Das had stumbled upon information that the painting made exclusively for the national carrier, had reached the open market.The "missing" painting now has miraculously resurfaced.A mysterious package arrived at Air India's head office, Airlines House, in New Delhi a week after Das raised a stink about the missing painting.This unnamed package contained the same said painting that Das had made for Air India. It was rolled up and delivered in a damaged condition.Air India immediately tried to trace back the sender. The courier, unfortunately, had been sent from an address in Gurugram that turned out to be fictitious.After India Today had highlighted the art loot, that appeared to be a larger malaise than the case of one missing painting, Air India had set up an internal enquiry committee to look into the matter.The committee has learnt that the painting was last seen in the office of a former executive director who worked out of the Delhi office of the airline a decade ago. It appeared, the lady in question, had left with Das' painting, post retirement.This former executive director has now been questioned about the painting. The internal committee will submit its complete report to the CMD of Air India in a week's time.This latest discovery only reaffirms what has been known within the airline's circles for a while - that retiring executives/officials have left with many a precious paintings and artefacts from the airline's collection after retirement, without informing.Air India says it has started a process of detailed audit of its collection, which will include "physical verification, digitisation, cataloguing, classification, proper storage, and putting in place a security system".When India Today contacted Jatin Das, he said he was yet to hear from Air India about 'Flying Apsara' and his other paintings too that he's sought details on.