Ghaziabad, April 6 (IANS): People present at a court here were surprised when four-five men brought a stuffed Royal Bengal tiger inside the court complex on Monday to be presented before a magistrate in a case of possession of illegal wildlife articles.

Additional Chief Judicial Magistrate Gyanendra Singh wanted to look at the tiger skin after it was seized by police from a transport company owner on January 14, 2013.

Police, acting on a tip off from NGO People for Animals (PFA), raided the house of Sunil Sharma in Surya Nagar area and seized the tiger trophy.

The animal's hide was stuffed with wheat husk and it weighed about 50 kg.

Gaurav Gupta of PFA alleged that during the period of the trial, the case property - the stuffed tiger in this case - was lying in a police station godown.

The court took cognizance of a complaint by PFA on March 12, 2015 that due to "criminal negligence" of police, most of the nails of the tiger were missing.

Tiger nails are reportedly valued at Rs.20,000-Rs.25,000 each in the black market.

Accused Sharma has been booked under many sections of the Wildlife Protection Act, 1972.

Sharma, however, said his father late M.L. Sharma, who was fond of hunting, had killed the tiger and installed its stuffed trophy in his house about 10 years ago. His father was unaware of the law, he claimed.