CHENNAI - A 35-year-old Singaporean woman undergoing liposuction surgery in southern Indian state Tamil Nadu died of cardiac arrest on Thursday (Nov 9), just hours after the operation.

Ms Alicia Medanin Khan had been admitted to the S R Multi Specialty Hospital in Arumbakkam in the capital of Chennai on Wednesday (Nov 8) morning to shed some pounds from her 85kg frame.

According to her husband, Mr Vijayakumar, a businessman in Singapore, he was barred from seeing his wife after the surgery by doctors who said she was suffering from complications, the Times of India (TOI) reported.

Mr Vijayakumar said he was informed at 1.30am on Thursday that his wife had died of a sudden cardiac arrest, and doctors rejected his request for details of her condition in writing. Her body was later sent for autopsy.

"We completed the surgery at 5.30pm on Wednesday and the woman was shifted to the post-surgery ward under the surveillance of medical officers. After almost six hours she died of cardiac arrest," the hospital authorities said.

According to TOI, Mr Vijayakumar has lodged a police complaint against the doctors and the hospital management for not disclosing his wife's health before and after surgery, alleging that his wife had died of medical negligence.

Police have registered a case of unnatural death for now.

"We will alter the case and include the doctors and hospital management if the autopsy report confirms death due to medical negligence," a police investigator was quoted as saying by TOI.