Indian-origin Delta pilot arrested from plane on youngster intercourse abuse costs

An Indian-origin Delta Airways pilot was arrested at San Francisco Worldwide Airport in reference to a disturbing case involving alleged intercourse crimes in opposition to a toddler, the Contra Costa County Sheriff’s Workplace stated in an official assertion. The accused, 34-year-old Rustom Bhagwagar of Florida, was arrested immediately from the plane he was co-piloting.

In accordance with officers, detectives from the Contra Costa County Sheriff’s Investigation Division started engaged on the case in April 2025 after receiving a report of kid sexual abuse. A Ramey arrest warrant was subsequently issued for Bhagwagar, who was recognized throughout the investigation as a business airline pilot.

Authorities discovered that Bhagwagar was scheduled to fly into San Francisco Worldwide Airport on the night of Saturday, July 26. The Boeing 757-300 he was co-piloting – Delta Flight 2809 from Minneapolis – landed round 9.35 PM after a delayed second method as a consequence of heavy fog. It was then that officers made their transfer.

Passengers aboard the flight described the scene as “stunning and unnerving”. In accordance with eyewitnesses, a number of regulation enforcement brokers – together with Homeland Safety Investigations personnel and people figuring out as air marshals – boarded the aircraft moments after it landed.

No less than 10 armed officers pushed their manner down the aisle and into the cockpit, the place they arrested Bhagwagar in entrance of surprised passengers.

“They stormed the cockpit, cuffed the co-pilot, walked him down the aisle, and ushered him off the aircraft via the cabin doorways between first and coach,” one passenger informed The San Francisco Chronicle through e mail. A second workforce of officers reportedly returned quickly after to gather the co-pilot’s private belongings. The crew reportedly supplied no data on the time, and one of many pilots informed passengers he had “no concept what simply occurred.”

Bhagwagar was later booked into the Martinez Detention Facility on 5 counts of oral copulation with a toddler underneath 10 years of age. He’s being held in lieu of $5 million bail.

The Division of Homeland Safety confirmed that its brokers assisted the Contra Costa County Sheriff’s Workplace in executing the arrest warrant. A spokesperson famous that this stays an ongoing native investigation being led by the Sheriff’s Workplace.

Delta Air Strains has not but commented publicly on the arrest, and a message left with the airline has up to now gone unanswered. The case has drawn large consideration as a result of stunning nature of the fees and the dramatic arrest on a business flight.

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