A 34-year-old Indian man was arrested in Michigan, US, for sexually abusing a woman, a co-passenger, on a flight while she was sleeping.
The incident took place on Spirit Airlines flight from Las Vegas to Detroit on Jan. 3, when Prabhu Ramamoorthy started abusing a 22-year-old sitting in a window seat next to him, reported The Washington Post.
Ramamoorthy has been charged with aggravated sexual abuse and held without bail after an appearance in federal court in Michigan on Thursday.
The victim, in her statement to the investigators, claimed that she woke up to find her pants and shirt unbuttoned and the man's hand inside her pants.
The entire incident took place in presence of the wife of the accused, who was sitting next to him.
According to Federal prosecutor Amanda Jawad, Ramamoorthy was sitting between his wife and the victim. He stopped assaulting the victim after she woke up.
Subsequently, the woman complained about the incident to a flight attendant.
According to a Daily Mail report, Ramamoorthy was arrested by Wayne County Airport Authority after the flight landed at Detroit Metro Airport.
The accused initially stated that he had been in 'deep sleep' during the flight and was unaware where he placed his hands.
However, later while speaking to an FBI agent he changed his version by saying that he might have unhooked the victim's bra 'while playing with it' and had cupped her breasts over her blouse.
In the US, the number of sexual assault cases has only increased in the last few years. Speaking to The Seattle Times, FBI spokeswoman Ayn Dietrich-Williamsn has said that in 2016 there were 57 such investigations, up from 40 the previous year. So far in 2017, there’ve been 63 investigations.
