About 55 people were booked for illegal sand mining in the Muzaffarnagar area of Uttar Pradesh, the police said on Monday. Acting on a tip-off that illegal sand mining was taking place at the Ganga canal, the police conducted several raids and operations to nab the offenders, but the sand miners managed to escape, said Circle Officer Ram Mohan Sharma. A case was registered against 55 sand miners,the officer said. Meanwhile, authorities in Shamli district here conducted raids and seized 14 trucks loaded with sand on Sunday.

The raids were conducted at Baseda village which comes under the jurisdiction of Kairana police station, said Sub-Divisional Magistrate Amitpal Sharma.

In another incident, a property broker was arrested after he passed off bundles of Bhagwati Jagran receipts as wads of notes worth Rs 65 lakh to a seller, police said Sunday.