Indian man pleads guilty to assaulting woman on US flight

Washington: An Indian man has pleaded guilty to charges of assaulting a sleeping female co-passenger aboard a New Jersey-bound flight.

58-year-old Veerabhadrarao Kunam had touched the passenger on a Virgin America red-eye flight from Los Angeles to New Jersey last year, a US attorney said on Thursday.

Kunam, a resident of Visakhapatnam, was arrested on July 30 after his flight arrived in Newark and was taken into



federal custody by the FBI.

He faces 30 to 60 days in prison and up to 90 days in an inpatient alcohol treatment centre.

He will be sentenced on March 22 in federal court in Newark.

According to documents filed and statements made in court, Kunam was seated next to a woman who occupied a middle seat on a Virgin America red-eye flight from Los Angeles to Newark on July 29 and 30 last year.