A 40-year-old actress has accused Santa Cruz-based cosmetic surgeon Dr Viral Desai of rape, saying he assaulted her when she went to his clinic for a consultation on August 9. The actress, who filed a case at Santa Cruz police station on August 12, was undergoing mesotherapy—a technique to rejuvenate and tighten skin—at Desai's clinic Cosmetic Plastic Surgeries and Laser Super-specialties (CPLSS) from 2015.

"I started consulting Dr. Desai in 2015, however, last year, he started making sexual advances towards me each time I visited his clinic. He would remark on my beauty and expressed wishes to have a sexual relationship with me," the actress told mid-day. She added that she continued to consult him "because he is one of Mumbai's top plastic surgeons". "I ignored [his remarks] and maintained a doctor-patient equation with him," she added.