Noted plastic surgeon falls from 6th floor of apartment, dies

A leading plastic surgeon in the city died after falling from the sixth floor of an apartment complex in HSR Layout Sector 2, southeast Bengaluru, on Monday, police said.

Dr Ashok Raj Koul (57), the chief of Plastic, Cosmetic, Microvascular and Hand Surgery at Sparsh Hospital and a resident of Sobha Daffodil apartment complex in Somasundrapalaya, was found lying in a pool of blood by security guards who were drawn by a loud thud around 12.30 pm. They called members of his family and they rushed down. With the help of neighbours, Dr Koul was taken to Narayana Health hospital where he was declared brought dead.

“He was his usual self in the morning when he came to the hospital. We both made our daily rounds in the ward and he even performed two procedures,” said Praveen Kumar, a junior doctor. “As the third operation was a minor one, he asked me to take care of it and went home with his daughter who had come to the hospital for a routine check-up. We got to know about the incident around 1.30 pm when his body was brought to Narayana Health.”

Police have registered a case of unnatural death but are yet to ascertain whether it was an accidental fall or suicide.

Dr Ashok is survived by his wife, Dr Asha Kiran, an anaesthesiologist at Hosmat Hospital, and two children, one of whom lives abroad while the other is in class 9 and lives with them. “We went through the CCTV footage and found nothing to suggest whether it was suicide or accident. We have not found a suicide note either. We will check his phone for possible clues,” a senior police officer said.
DH News Service