Indian tax officials raiding a former lawmaker’s house in madhypradesh state’s Sagar city found three crocodiles in a pond.

The crocodiles were found on the property of Harvansh Singh Rathore, former member of the state assembly from the ruling Hindu nationalist Bharatiya janata party

The officials, over the course of a three-day raid at properties linked to the politician, reportedly recovered 14kg gold and nearly Rs30m (£283,668) in cash and multiple luxury vehicles,

Mr Rathore was elected to the state assembly in 2013.

The raid was reportedly carried out following complaints of irregularities in transactions related to the former state lawmaker’s business of ‘bidi’, which is a handrolled local cigarette made from tobacco wrapped in a leaf of Coromandel ebony tree.

Mr Rathore reportedly claimed to have obtained permission to keep the crocodiles, despite it being illegal to keep crocodiles as pets in india

The forest department was informed and an investigation launched, local media reports said.