21-Year-Old Actress Dies After Botched Liposuction Surgery

A 21-year-old woman died Monday due to complications from a botched liposuction surgery she had undergone at a private hospital.

Her family reportedly filed a case against the hospital authorities for negligence.

The deceased, identified as Chetana Raj, a television actress who hailed from Bengaluru in the southern Indian state of Karnataka, had undergone the "fat-free" cosmetic surgery at Dr. Shetty's Cosmetic Centre on May 16 without her parents' knowledge, reported Hindusthan Times.

Her health took a turn for the worse later that evening as fluid began building up in her lungs, causing her to face breathing difficulties, The Quint reported.

Following this, Raj reached out to the hospital where she got the procedure but didn't inform her parents this time also, according to Hindusthan Times.

Due to the unavailability of ICU beds at their facility, the doctors at Dr. Shetty's Cosmetic Center shifted her to another hospital. Doctors at Kaade Hospital found the woman unresponsive with no pulse and conducted CPR for 45 minutes but failed to revive her. Raj was then pronounced brought dead.

The victim's father, Varadaraju, a businessman, filed a suspicious death case and demanded legal action against Dr. Sahebgowda Shetty who owns Dr. Shetty's Cosmetic Centre, according to The Indian Express.

"Based on the complaint, an FIR has been registered and we will send the postmortem report to the medical council to take further action against the clinic," a police officer told the outlet.

Raj's body is currently at the Kaade Hospital and will be handed over to her family after an autopsy on Wednesday.

Meanwhile, Dr. Sandeep V, the ICU intensivist at the Kaade Hospital, filed a complaint at the Basaveshwar Nagar Police Station against doctor Melvin, an anesthetist at Dr. Shetty's Cosmetic Centre. Sandeep, in his complaint, stated that Melvin allegedly barged Raj into the Kaade Hospital disregarding "all the protocols of the hospital and threatening their security," Hindusthan Times reported.

"Our doctors were forced to toe the line of Dr. Melvin and team with threats and though they were aware that the patient was brought dead, they were coerced into declaring only at 06:45 p.m., for the reasons best known to them. We strongly object to this kind of behavior by these doctors and if necessary we may decide to file a report against them. This report is being sent to you to bring to your notice this incident which does not appear normal," the complaint read, according to Hindusthan Times.