21-year-old Indian actress Chethana Raj dies after 'botched' liposuction
- 18 May 2022
A 21-year-old budding Indian actress died after what her family says was a botched liposuction procedure, according to police on Wednesday.
Liposuction, a medical procedure to remove fat, is very common and cheap in India — but is still mostly unregulated outside big hospitals.
Chethana Raj, who acted in several television series and films in her native Karnataka, died on Tuesday.
Her grandmother Narayanamma told local media that the actress had asked for 150,000 rupees (around $1,900) for the operation but the family refused.
"We did not encourage her to have the operation as she was healthy and not fat," the Times of India quoted her as saying.
Raj cobbled together the money herself and went to a clinic in the southern city of Bangalore without telling her parents.
But she developed complications and was rushed to hospital where she was pronounced dead.
Vinayak Patil, deputy commissioner of police, told reporters that officials have registered a case of unnatural death after the woman's father accused the clinic of botching the procedure.
"My daughter died due to the negligence of the hospital," Local media quoted her father Govinda Raj as saying.
"My daughter was hale and hearty. She was absolutely fine."
Reports further suggest that after Chethana death, the ICU Intensivist, Dr Sandeep V at Kaade Hospital filed a reports at the Basaveshwarnagar Police Station, Bangalore.
As per the complaint filed, around 5:30 pm on 16 May, one doctor named Melvin who is an anaesthetist, barged into their hospital with a patient (who was found unresponsive later) disregarding all the protocols of the hospital and threatening their security.
Dr. Sandeep further stated that the incident did not appear to normal, it was mentioned in the report how they strongly objected to such kind of behaviour by the doctors due to which they decided to file a report.