Man charged with self-joining the Mile High Club in full view of other passengers on a flight from the Middle East to Boston after molesting a woman he didn't know

An Indian national is in federal custody after his arrest at Logan Airport this morning on a charge that he kept exposing himself to other passengers as he attempted to get some personal loving in on a flight from Abu Dhabi - after first failing to get a woman passenger whose hair and breast he touched to spend the night with him in Boston in exchange for a $5,000 "gift," according to documents unsealed in federal court tonight.

Krishna Kunapuli, 39, was a passenger on Etihad Airways flight EY 7, which left Abu Dhabi around 3:15 a.m. local time for the roughly 13 hour, 40 minute flight to Boston, according to an affidavit by an FBI agent stationed at Logan.

About four hours into the flight, the agent wrote, Kunapuli got out of his window seat and sat in a center-row seat next to a woman flying alone, at first asking her if he could sit there while waiting for a lavatory to open up, the affidavit states.

Passenger 1 agreed to this. Upon sitting, KUNAPULI began attempting to make small talk with Passenger 1. KUNAPULI then started complimenting Passenger 1 on her looks, telling her that she was beautiful. KUNAPULI asked Passenger 1 if she would spend the night with him in Boston, and offered to give her $5,000 as a gift. KUNAPULI bragged about his wealth. KUNAPULI then started to touch Passenger 1's hair and brush it with his fingers back from her face while repeating that Passenger 1 was beautiful. Passenger 1 wanted to get away from KUNAPULI. She was also having problems with her phone's in-flight Wi-Fi connection. To address that, and to get away from KUNAPULI, Passenger 1 decided to get up and go to the aft galley to look for an EY7 crew member. KUNAPULI followed Passenger 1 to the galley where he continued to get very close to her, compliment her, and touch her hair. Passenger 1 told KUNAPULI to step back and stop touching her hair on multiple occasions but he either ignored this completely or would apologize but then start his actions again.

A flight-crew member at first thought the two were romantically involved because she said Kunauli "grabbing or touching" one of the woman's breasts. But then she noticed the woman backing away and looking uncomfortable - as he began to take photos of her - spoke to the woman, got the lowdown and told the two to go back to their seats - which were not next to each other's.

Kunapuli complied, the affidavit states, adding that then the masturbation began.

According to the agent, a man seated in the same row as Kunapali noticed he was watching something on his phone while covered with a blanket that began to move up and down.

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.

The passenger sought out a flight attendant, who let him change seats for the remainder of the flight.

Another man, seated in the middle row of seats next to Kunapuli's then noticed him taking care of business, no longer covered by a blanket, the affidavit states.

Passenger 3 attempted to interrupt what KUNAPULI was doing by making exaggerated movements, such as shaking out his blanket, in the hopes that when KUNAPULI noticed Passenger 3 awake he would stop masturbating. KUNAPULI did eventually cover himself with a blanket but appeared to continue to masturbate under the blanket. Passenger 3 tried to ignore the situation and go back to sleep. When he could not, however, Passenger 3 looked over again at KUNAPULI and saw that the blanket which had been covering him had moved and that KUNAPULI's penis was once again exposed and he was continuing to masturbate.

He went to a galley, found a crew member, explained what he was seeing and asked for a change of seats. A crew member then went to Kunapuli's row and demanded he stop, which he did.

Alerted by the plane's pilot, the FBI agent and state troopers boarded the plane after it had finished taxiing to its gate and removed Kunapuli, the affidavit states. In an interview in the customs area:

After being provided with Miranda warnings, executing a written Miranda waiver, and agreeing to speak to investigators without an attorney present, KUNAPULI admitted to investigators that he did, in fact, masturbate while in his seat on EY7.

He was then charged, under a federal law that provides penalties for behavior on an airplane in international airspace that would be illegal in the US if the plane first lands at a US airport.

Innocent, etc.