Barasat: CID sleuths arrested a man in Baguiati on Thursday on the charge of cheating several people in North 24-Parganas by promising to help them buy flats.

Prithwish Dasgupta, 40, was picked up from his flat based on a complaint lodged with Habra police station.

Dasgupta would tell people that he could get them flats at a cheaper rate because he had good contacts in the real estate market, police said.

"He duped several people this way in Habra, Barasat, Dum Dum and Sodepur," an investigating officer said.

A Barasat court sent him to four days' police custody.

"He also posed as a social worker in the Baguiati area and collected more than Rs 1 crore from at least 20 people over the past year," a CID officer said.

A similar case is pending against him in Tiljala police station, the officer said.