An exhibition of works by prominent Indian artist S.H. Raza at Delhi's Dhoomimal Gallery consists mostly of forged paintings, reports the Times (London). The paintings had been borrowed from the artist's nephew, Z. H. Zafri, under the impression that they were his early works.

Paris–based Raza gave 30 drawings to the gallery, but when he arrived to inspect the exhibition, he noticed all of the paintings were fakes.

"When I reached the gallery and started looking at the canvases on the walls, I was stunned," Raza wrote in an Indian newspaper. "As I moved from one canvas to the other, I realized that the works were just not mine, they were all fakes," he said. "I will turn 86 next month. At this stage of my life, this was the last thing I wanted to do — grace an exhibition of my own fake paintings."

Gallery owners Uday and Uma Jain apologized to Raza and immediately closed the show. "I was very upset that it happened at my gallery," said Uma Jain, "but the fact that we invited Raza to attend clearly shows our commitment to showing only authentic art."

Raza is one of India's most famous artists and his work is high demand internationally; Christie's sold a Raza painting for $1.3 million last year in London.

The artist has filed a lawsuit against Zafri, who told the gallery the paintings were from Raza's former home in the central Indian state of Madhya Pradesh.

Art forgery is a lucrative crime in India, which does not have an established system for the authentication of art works, according to the Times.