NEW DELHI (Web Desk) – An Indian man was held accountable for sexually attacking 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 put out on a $50,000 secured bail. The mission runs a maximum possible penalty of two years in prison and a $250,000 fine.
The 58-year-old was seated next to a woman 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 required everyone to forget the incident and offered to purchase the travel companion a drink for any worry he may have had. Nevertheless, the woman’s travel companion declined his offer and alerted a flight crew member near the incident.
A member of the flight crew then moved Kunam to another seat and told him specifically to not come back to his original place. Kunam went on to assure the flight crew member that he would not move 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.”
