Indian man arrested for sexually assaulting woman on US flight

Woman fell asleep on the flight and woke up to find the man touching her inappropriately

An Indian man was arrested for sexually assaulting a female passenger sitting next to him on a flight from Los Angeles to New Jersey last week.

Veerabhadrarao Kunam appeared before US Magistrate Judge Joseph Dickson on Tuesday in Newark federal court and was released on a $50,000 secured bond. The charge carries a maximum potential penalty of two years in prison and a $250,000 fine.



The 58-year-old was seated next to a woman who occupied a middle seat on a flight from Los Angeles to Newark. According to the complaint, while the plane was in the air, the woman fell asleep. She woke up to find Kunam inappropriately touching her. She then alerted her male travel companion who traded seats with her and confronted Kunam.

The accused allegedly told the victim's travel companion that he wanted everyone to forget about the incident and offered to buy the travel companion a drink for any trouble he may have caused. However, the woman’s travel companion declined his offer and alerted a flight crew member about the incident.

A member of the flight crew then moved Kunam to another seat and instructed him not to return to his original seat. He then allegedly told the flight crew member that he would not touch the victim again.



The airline released a statement saying that the plane's crew was "alerted to reports of a disruptive individual who was accused of inappropriately touching a fellow passenger."

The airline's spokesperson added, "Our crew are trained for such situations, and they immediately moved the individual in question to another seat, monitored him to ensure he did not move from his seat, and alerted law enforcement, who were waiting for the aircraft when it arrived at the New Jersey airport."

This article originally appeared on Times of India.