The Alibaug police have arrested a 43-year-old man — Sajid Sayyed — who posed as a PhD doctorate and cheated the tehsildar office of Rs 18 lakh on the pretext of helping cyclone Nisarga and COVID-affected people.

Apart from setting up three clinics, the accused had even bought medicines, gas cylinders and education material claiming that all of it was being done through an NGO and that he would pay for them later. The Alibaug tehsildar got suspicious when the staff at the clinics complained of not being paid salaries and eventually found out that Sayyed was a crook.