Drunk elderly Swede molests IndiGo hostess on Bangkok-Mumbai flight, nabbed

According to the eyewitness accounts recorded by the police, the accused ran amok during meal time demanding sea-food and he continued the fracas with the crew till the flight landed in Mumbai.

Mumbai: In another case of unruly behaviour in the mid-air, an inebriated elderly Swedish national was arrested late on Thursday for allegedly abusing and molesting an IndiGo crew member on a Bangkok-Mumbai flight, officials said here on Saturday.

The accused, identified as one Klas Erik H. J. Westberg, 63, was nabbed after the IndiGo flight (6E-1052) landed at the Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj International Airport here, for alleged indecent behaviour on board the four-hour long journey.

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On Friday, he was produced before the Andheri Metropolitan Court and released on bail of Rs 20,000, and the Sahar Airport Police are probing the matter.

According to the eyewitness accounts recorded by the police, the accused ran amok during meal time demanding sea-food and he continued the fracas with the crew till the flight landed in Mumbai.

The airhostess informed that there was no seafood available and served him chicken, but when she later asked him to pay through his card, he allegedly caught her hand.

She pushed him off back to the seat and asked him to complete the transaction, but he got up and openly started molesting her in front of the other passengers, as she shouted for help.

The man again got up, entered into a verbal duel with another crew member, hurled the choicest abuses, and even hit another passenger on the next seat who tried to intervene.

The victim, a 24-year-old airhostess, then alerted the flight captain, plus warned the passenger of seat No. 28-E of the possible consequences of his behaviour, but to no avail.

After the flight landed, the IndiGo security staff and CISF were informed and they took charge of him and later handed him over to the Sahar Airport Police Station, which is further probing the case.