55 people booked for illegal sand mining

Representational Picture

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.

City Superintendent of Police Shlok Kumar said property dealer Naresh Kaushik was a broker in a deal for the sale of two shops at Rs 1.23 crore, a part of which was to be given in cash. Kaushik showed the property owner, Rajendra Nath Grover Rs 65 lakh in cash at his house, but after registration of the sale deeds for shops at the Ghaziabad sub-registry office, handed over to him bundles of 'Bhagwati Jagran' receipts of Rs 2,000 currency notes size, wrapped in a red cloth.

Grover lodged a complaint with the police, which raided Kaushik's residence and recovered cash worth Rs 64 lakh from him, Kumar said. The police also arrested Kaushik on charges of cheating and forgery.

With inpust from PTI

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