Swedish national arrested in Mumbai for allegedly molesting IndiGo crew member: Reports
Mumbai: A 63-year-old Swedish citizen, identified as Klas Erik Harald Jonas Westberg, was arrested by Mumbai Police for allegedly molesting a cabin crew member during an IndiGo flight from Bangkok, news agency ANI reported.
The accused was allegedly under the influence of alcohol at the time of the incident, the airline staff handed over the accused to the police upon landing at Mumbai Airport.
According to the Times of India, the accused passenger, Klas Erik Harald Jonas Westberg, reportedly started misbehaving during meal service and continued to do so until the flight landed. The 24-year-old cabin crew member, apparently alerted the captain and gave a red warning card to Westberg at one point.
Narrating the incident in the complaint, the cabin crew member told the national daily, "The problem began when I informed Westberg (seated on 28-E), who was drunk, that there was no seafood onboard. I served him chicken meals and asked for his ATM card to make a payment through the POS machine. On the pretext of swiping the card, the passenger held my hand. I pulled it back and asked him to enter the card PIN. This time he crossed the limit ... getting up, he molested me in front of other passengers. When I shouted and screamed that he was misbehaving, he returned to his seat."
The accused’s counsel claimed that he has health problems and suffers from body shivers. "He cannot hold anything without help. He tried to hold the POS payment card machine when he touched the cabin crew. He did not touch her intentionally," Times of India quoted him saying.
Officials have reported that this is the 8th instance of an unruly airline passenger being arrested in India over the past three months.