Mansur Ali Khan Pataudi, who is accused of hunting an endangered blackbuck, could be in deeper trouble for allegedly unaccounted animal trophies adorning the walls of his ancestral home near Gurgaon, say Haryana wildlife officials.

The officials are now set to verify the animal trophies at his Ibrahim palace in Pataudi village of the state.

State Chief Wildlife Warden K.L. Manhas told IANS a physical verification of the former Indian cricket captain's palace would be carried out shortly to find out where he got the animal trophies - most being of protected species of deer - from.

"He does not have the certificate for at least a dozen of these animal
trophies," Manhas said.

Pataudi and seven others were caught by the Haryana police near Jhajjar town June 3 night with the carcasses of a blackbuck - a protected animal - and two rabbits. A case of poaching was registered and one of them arrested.

The Punjab and Haryana High Court Tuesday refused Pataudi interim bail in the case.

Animal trophies are the face and neck of hunted animals stuffed and preserved. Possession of animal trophies of protected or endangered species is an offence under the Wildlife Protection Act, 1972.

The Haryana Police, accompanied by wildlife officials, had recently raided Ibrahim palace and found animal trophies on the palatial property's walls.

Manhas said Pataudi did not have any certificate about when these animal trophies were inherited, giving rise to suspicion that he could have been hunting wildlife all these years without getting caught.

Pataudi had been in a controversy a few years ago after he was accused of shooting protected birds in a Jammu and Kashmir sanctuary. He was let off in the case.

His son - actor Saif Ali Khan - was accused of killing blackbucks with Bollywood star Salman Khan in the Jodhpur area of Rajasthan a few years ago.

A wildlife official alleged the Jhajjar police were trying to save Pataudi in the blackbuck poaching case.

He said the police did not follow procedures under the Wildlife Protection Act.

Evidence in the case - such as the vehicle in which the blackbuck carcass was found - was not collected. The vehicle was seized only a few days later from Pataudi's Delhi home.