There was no suggestion that the art works collected by the Art Gallery of New South Wales (AGNSW) were the result of a theft, the gallery's Director Michael Brand said on Monday.

"No one has made any suggestion that the works in our collection are stolen or that there are any issues about those works," Brand told the radio networks of the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC Radio).

"Should someone come to us and say that there's reason to believe that, we'll obviously collaborate in any way we can."

The AGNSW has confirmed that it has art works in its collection acquired from New York-based antiquities dealer Subhash Kapoor, who is being held in India on suspicion of trading in stolen precious artifacts, the Australian Associated Press (AAP) reported.

Brand said galleries were responsible for following the correct procedures when acquiring art works.

"If one of the objects will end up being stolen from a temple, clearly we have only one thing to do and that is to return it," he said.

In 2008, the National Gallery of Australia (NGA) in Canberra purchased the statue, known as "Shiva as Nataraja, Lord of the Dance" from Kapoor, the ABC said.

However, the NGA says it has not been contacted by Indian police or any other authorities about the matter.

According to the ABC reports, the NGA has been in touch with the Indian High Commission in Canberra after Kapoor's arrest.

The Australian galleries are among a number of international art institutions that have acquired works of art through Kapoor.