Aarthi Agarwal passed away in a private hospital in New Jersey on Saturday due to cardiac arrest.

Telugu actress Aarthi Agarwal passed away on Saturday in a private hospital in New Jersey after her health deteriorated following a liposuction surgery.

"Aarthi was battling obesity and pulmonary illness. She was undergoing treatment and due to some complications, she suffered a cardiac arrest and passed away," Aarthi's manager told IANS.

The 31-year-old had reportedly gone to the US for the liposuction surgery and complications following it are believed to have resulted in her death.

While death post a liposuction surgery is rare, fat embolism is a fatal after-effect of the surgery. It isn't clear yet if this happened in Agarwal's case.

Agarwal had reportedly earlier approached a Hyderabad-based surgeon to perform a liposuction on her, but he had refused because she had no fat under her skin.

"In the case of Aarti Agarwal, if death happened immediately after surgery, it has been be due to fat embolism. If it happened after a week or 10 days, it could be because of infection,"said Vijayawada-based cosmetic surgeon K. Srikrishna, in a report by The Hindu.

Agarwal made her Telugu cinematic debut with a hit Nuvvu Naaku Nachav in 2001. Since then, the actress has featured in hits like Nuvvu Leka Nenu Lenu, Indra and Vasantham.

According to this Indian Express report, officials from the Movie Artistes' Association have said that she felt forgotten after she starred in only four films, from 2008 till now. She had reportedly put on weight and had respiratory issues and that is when she decided to go for the surgery. The surgery finally occurred a month ago.

Agarwal's death comes as a shock merely a year after Telugu actor Uday Kiran suicide in January 2014. It is no hidden fact that Tollywood can be a mentally harrowing place and this is reportedly one of the reason's behind Kiran's death.

According to this report by Deccan Chronicle, Kiran was depressed because he was not getting any film offers and was in a financial crisis. Kiran was quite the hearthrob in the 2000s.

Agarwal is also no stranger to controversies. In 2005, she attempted suicide after her alleged relationship with co-star Tarun turned bitter. Aarthi starred in nearly 25 films. Her latest release Ranam 2 released in cinemas on Friday.

With Inputs from IANS