Hyderabad, Feb 23 (IANS): Hyderabad police on Tuesday arrested a cleric for allegedly cheating a cancer patient by collecting Rs 2 lakh on the promise to arrange money from the Chief Minister's Relief Fund for his treatment.

Maulana Ali Quadri used the name of Member of Parliament J. Santosh Kumar to collect the money. When the Rajya Sabha member belonging to the Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) learnt about this, he requested the Hyderabad Police Commissioner to take action against the accused.

Banjara Hills police station registered a case of cheating and later transferred it to the Charminar police station.

Cancer patient Mohammed Jaleeluddin Qadeer Siddiqui, a resident of Bahadurpura in the old city, complained that Ali Quadri took Rs 2 lakh from him in November for arranging money from the CMRF for his treatment.

As the cleric failed to arrange the fund for treatment, Siddiqui demanded the money back. When the accused refused to return the money, he recorded a video and got it uploaded on social media.

Siddiqui, suffering from colon cancer, said he needed Rs 14.5 lakh for the treatment. Quadri told him that he will arrange the money from the CMRF in four days through Santosh Kumar and demanded Rs 4.5 lakh. The victim said he could arrange only Rs 2 lakh.

In the video, the patient requested Quadri to return his money and also made an appeal to people to help him get his money back.