Article content continued

Two flight attendants told federal investigators that the victim was crying and that her shirt was untied and that her pants were unbuttoned when she had reported the alleged attack at about 5:30 a.m., 40 minutes before the plane’s landing, Jawad said. The attendants kept the woman in the back of the plane and offered her a different seat, and while they were talking to the victim, Ramamoorthy’s wife came to the back of the plane to see what was going on, Jawad said.

It seems that she's either colluding with the defendant to cover up his actions or she's completely oblivious to what he did

Ramamoorthy was arrested after the plane landed, according to court documents.

He told agents in a written statement that he had taken a pill and fallen into a deep sleep, Jawad said, and that he hadn’t done anything besides learning from his wife that the 22-year-old woman was sleeping on his knees.

His wife told officials a similar story, and said that they had called the flight attendants to try to change seats.

But the “flight attendants did not report that anyone asked them to change seats other than the victim,” Jawad said.

Both Ramamoorthy and his wife gave lengthier statements later indicating that the pill Ramamoorthy had taken was “plain Tylenol.”

Ramamoorthy gave “conflicting reports,” about what happened with the victim, Jawad said.

Magistrate Judge Steven Whalen, who said it was a “very unusual case,” ordered Ramamoorthy to be held pending trial after Jawad successfully argued that he was a flight risk and a potential danger to others around him. The prosecutor said that Ramamoorthy’s wife, who was also living in the United States on a temporary visa, would not make a suitable custodian for him.