Shreha Dhargalkar alleges Siddhaanth Vir Surryavanshi took steroids given to him by a gym trainer, demands police investigation

MUMBAI: In a shocking revelation, activist Shreha Dhargalkar who claims to know several gym trainers at gymnasiums in Andheri West (in suburban Mumbai), frequented by celebrities and Tv actors has alleged that Tv actor Siddhaanth Vir Surryavanshi who passed away Friday morning after a heart attack while working out in the gym was taking steroids given to him by a gym trainer.

Calling upon the Mumbai police to thoroughly investigate the role of gym trainers in the recent deaths over the last two years of several celebrities like Siddharth Shukla, Raju Srivastava, Deepesh Bhan and now Siddhaanth Vir Surryavanshi, Shreha said: “The Tv actors pay huge sums of money to personal gym trainers to get them into shape and obtain a chiseled body with ripping muscles. There is a lot of pressure. In order to get success for their clients and retain their pay packets, some gym trainers resort to unethical practices giving their clients a cocktail of health products and protein drinks, some of them containing steroids and other drugs – to reduce pain while working out as well as stop water retention and build lean muscle.”

According to Dhargalkar the actors sometimes do not know what they are consuming as they believe the trainers blindly.

“There is so much faith and trust in gym trainers that bodybuilders would even consume poison if given to them by gym trainers. The police must investigate the role of gym trainers in the deaths of the Tv actors over the last two years and proper viscera analysis must be done in each case,” Dhargalkar demanded.

Meanwhile, cardiac and diabetes specialist Dr Pranav Kabra of the Raksha Multispeciality Hospital at Malad in suburban Mumbai, said that sudden aggressive exercise can lead to a heart attack.

“The body needs to warm up. People simply go on the treadmill and start running or go to the gym equipment and start with dead weights. Such sudden heavy exercise can definitely trigger a heart attack,” Dr Kabra said.

Dr Pranav Kabra says, “a blockage of the coronary arteries supplying blood to the heart due to acute and sudden clot formation and underlying cholesterol plaque is possible even at early age. It is also possible that the cholesterol plaque does not necessarily narrow the artery severely, but only 20-30 or 40 percent. But it can rupture due to extreme stress or unusual exercise without warming up, causing a building up of high blood pressure. Thus, the sudden rupturing of plaque will lead to clot formation in the blood vessels leading to a heart attack, said Dr Kabra, explaining how 40 to 50 year-olds are dying in gyms due to sudden aggressive exercise without warm up.

Increases in homocysteine levels in the body are one of the major causes of heart attack. 99 percent of people do all blood tests except homocysteine. Dr Kabra says he has personally observed patients with high homocysteine levels leading to cardiac issues at a very young age.

High levels of homocysteine can damage the inside of your arteries and increase your risk of forming blood clots. This may increase your risk for heart attack, stroke, and other heart diseases and blood vessel disorders.

Homocysteine is an amino acid. Vitamins B12, B6 and folate break down homocysteine in the body to create other chemicals the body needs. High homocysteine levels may mean you have a vitamin deficiency, which in bodybuilders is caused due to lack of proper nutrition. They only focus on proteins forgetting about vitamins, minerals etc., from natural sources like vegetables and fruits, which the body needs, opines Dr Kabra.

Actor Siddhaanth Vir Surryavanshi was feeling unwell and had pain in his chest in the gym and yet he forced himself to complete his routine and did a bench press. Even the instructor told him to take it easy. If he had to listen to the signs and signals his body was giving him, he would have been alive today, Dr Kabra said.