A man flying from Abu Dhabi to Boston relentlessly hit on a woman sitting in a nearby row, grabbed her breasts, and snapped photos of her without permission, then — after she rebuffed his crude advances — proceeded to masturbate in full view of at least two other passengers, according to a criminal complaint filed in Massachusetts federal court.
Etihad Airways passenger Krishna Kunapuli, 39, was spotted “actively masturbating” on multiple occasions during the 14-hour journey, prompting the flight crew to notify law enforcement, states an FBI affidavit attached to the complaint.
Kunapuli, an Indian national, does not yet have an attorney listed in court records and was not able to be reached for comment on Tuesday. Etihad Airways did not immediately respond to The Independent’s request for comment.
Flight EY7 left the UAE on October 21, with Kunapuli in seat 38A, by the window, according to the affidavit. About four hours into the flight, Kunapuli wandered down the aisle and spotted a woman in seat 44G, an aisle, without anyone in the two seats next to her, the affidavit continues. It says Kunapuli asked if he could sit in one of the empty seats while he waited for the lavatory, and the woman, who is not identified by name in court filings, agreed.
Kunapuli soon started “complimenting [the passenger] on her looks, telling her that she was beautiful,” the affidavit goes on, adding that Kunapuli “bragged about his wealth” and asked the woman “if she would spend the night with him in Boston, and offered to give her $5,000 as a gift.”
“Kunapuli then started to touch [the woman’s] hair and brush it with his fingers back from her face while repeating that [she] was beautiful,” the affidavit alleges. “[The woman] wanted to get away from Kunapuli. She was also having problems with her phone’s in-flight Wi-Fi connection.”
Using the Wi-Fi issue as an excuse, the passenger got up and went to the aft galley to find a flight attendant. Kunapuli followed her there, and continued to hit on her and stroke her hair, the affidavit continues. The woman told Kunapuli to stop touching her and step away, but he alternately ignored her or apologized, then started all over again, according to the affidavit. Eventually, the affidavit says, a flight attendant arrived in the galley and spotted the two, assuming they were “a romantically involved couple… because he saw… Kunapuli grabbing or touching [the woman’s] left breast.”
However, the flight attendant quickly realized that something was amiss, as the woman kept backing away from Kunapuli when he reached for her, the affidavit contends. It says the crew member also noticed Kunapuli was taking pictures of the woman without her permission, after which the woman told her she didn’t know Kunapuli and that he had been subjecting her to unwanted advances. So, the crew member told Kunapuli to return to his own seat, six rows in front of the woman’s, and directed the woman back to hers, according to the affidavit.
Once Kunapuli returned to his seat in row 38, a man sitting one seat over saw Kunapuli watching something on his phone, with a blanket covering his lap, the affidavit states.
“Passenger 2 observed that there was movement under Kunapuli’s blanket,” the affidavit alleges. “Passenger 2 eventually came to suspect that Kunapuli was masturbating under the blanket. Passenger 2 tried to ignore the situation, but eventually saw that Kunapuli’s blanket had moved and that Kunapuli’s penis was exposed and Kunapuli was still masturbating.”
This went on for about 10 minutes, the passenger, who was allowed to relocate to a different seat for the remaining 10 hours of the flight, later told authorities.
A third passenger unsuccessfully attempted to interrupt Kunapuli and eventually alerted a crew member after trying to ignore the behavior, according to the affidavit.
Unable to turn a blind eye to what was happening, a flight attendant confronted Kunapuli and demanded he stop, to which a “startled” Kunapuli apologized and zipped up his trousers, it contends.
The Etihad crew notified law enforcement, and FBI agents, along with Massachusetts State Police investigators, met the plane upon landing at Boston Logan International Airport. Flight attendants identified Kunapuli as the culprit, and he was removed from the aircraft, according to the affidavit. Under questioning, it concludes, Kunapuli “admitted to investigators that he did, in fact, masturbate while in his seat on EY7.”
In 2022, a man aboard a Southwest Airlines flight from Seattle to Phoenix was hit with federal charges for masturbating at least four times during the three-hour trip, later telling police he thought his vulgar actions were “kind of kinky.”
Kunapuli remains in custody as of Tuesday morning, and is due to appear in court on Tuesday afternoon, according to court records. He faces one count of lewd, indecent and obscene acts while in the special aircraft jurisdiction of the United States, and, if convicted, up to 90 days in prison.
