Police in the eastern Indian city of Kolkata arrested in the early hours of Friday a 60-year- old man for allegedly molesting a Japanese woman mid-air on board a flight from Thailand, a senior police official said.

"The accused was arrested by the police at Kolkata's international airport around 1 a.m. (local time) after the Japanese woman complained to them about the alleged incident mid- air on the Bangkok-Kolkata Thai Airways flight, soon after it landed there," the official said, on condition of anonymity.

The accused, identified as Narayan Singh who was a co-passenger of the victim, has been taken into police custody, he said, adding that a probe has been ordered into the incident.

Sexual assaults on women, including foreign tourists, are not uncommon in India.

A few months ago, a Swiss woman was gangraped by a group of men while she was touring the central state of Madhya Pradesh along with her husband.