US flight diverted after Indian passenger stabs teens with fork

By AP October 28, 2025 | 11:55 pm PT

Lufthansa planes stand parked as Frankfurt Airport in Frankfurt, Germany, March 2024. Photo by Reuters

A man from India stabbed two teenagers with a fork, slapped a female passenger and a crew member and mimicked shooting himself during an international flight, authorities said.

The Lufthansa flight from Chicago to Frankfurt, Germany, on Saturday was diverted to Boston, where the Praneeth Kumar Usiripalli, 28, was arrested and charged with one count of assault with a dangerous weapon.

According to the U.S. Attorney’s Office, a 17-year-old passenger awoke to find Usiripalli standing over him. Usiripalli stabbed at the teen’s clavicle with a fork and then stabbed another 17-year-old boy in the head, causing a laceration, prosecutors allege.

The first teen, who was not injured because he was wearing a thick sweatshirt, told investigators he had exchanged pleasantries with the man seated next to him during boarding but otherwise had not interacted with him, according to the criminal complaint.

Usiripalli, who entered the U.S. on a student visa, does not have lawful immigration status, authorities said. He was enrolled in a master's degree program at Moody Theological Seminary in Chicago from the fall of 2022 to spring 2025, according to the school.

Usiripalli did not have an attorney listed for him in the federal court system Tuesday.