CHANDIGARH: Former Indian cricket team captain and accused in the black buck hunting case at Jhajjar, Mansur Ali Khan Pataudi, on Wednesday appeared before the Chief Wildlife Warden, Haryana, Mr K.L. Manhas, to give a declaration of all wildlife articles in his possession.

This follows a recent physical verification of the wildlife articles at his ancestral home at Pataudi by Wildlife officials led by Mr Manhas on July 8. He had been served a notice to appear before the Chief Wildlife Warden here.

Mr Pataudi reportedly declared a stuffed tiger, skin and head of nilgiri dahr (a rare species found in Malabar coast), sambar head, and a stuffed chittal. He had come along with his lawyer and said he had inherited all these articles from his mother, Ms Sajeda Begum, after her death in 1995.

Mr Pataudi reportedly also submitted documents to prove that all these articles were very old, before the Wildlife Protection Act came into existence. He showed letter written by his mother to the DFO, Bhopal, and photographs of his sister, sitting on the tiger when she was just five-year old.

The former cricket captain pleaded that after he inherited these articles, he had written to the Wildlife Department for declaring these and seeking an ownership certificate. But the Wildlife Department had not introduced any scheme for declaring these articles. “When the department allowed citizens to declare these articles in 2003, I had applied for declaration. However, the physical examination of the articles was pending,” he pleaded.

The Divisional Wildlife Warden, Rohtak, has now been asked to put identification chips on these articles and hen take necessary steps to issue ownership certificate.—By arrangement with TribuneIndia/Chandigarh.