Accused Fired From Job, Father Says He was Sleep Deprived; ‘I think I’m in Trouble’, He Told Co-Passenger After Peeing

Shankar Mishra, accused of urinating on a female co-passenger on an Air India flight from New York, had reportedly paid the woman Rs 15,000 as compensation and got her belongings cleaned, his lawyers claimed on Friday. However, messages between the accused and the woman’s daughter show that the family had returned the money.

Meanwhile, Mishra’s father defended him, saying that the case against his son is “false”. Shyam Mishra told reporters that the case was “totally false” and that his son hadn’t slept for 30-35 hours before his flight from New York. “He might have taken a drink on the flight and slept,” he said, as per ANI.

In a shocking incident, Mishra, in an inebriated condition, allegedly urinated on his female co-passenger, a senior citizen in her seventies, in the business class of an Air India New York-Delhi flight on November 26 last year.

Latest updates:

• Delhi Police summons Air India staff. Air India staff, including the pilot and co-pilot, were issued summons for Friday, but they didn’t appear. Now, they have been summoned to the office of deputy commissioner of police (airport) at 10:30 am on January 7, as per sources.
• Accused told co-passenger, “I think I’m in trouble”, after sobering up on the flight. Mishra’s co-passenger on the November 26 flight, Sugata Bhattacharjee, recounted the shocking incident while speaking to Times of India and said that after Mishra had peed on the woman in an inebriated state, he dozed off. When he woke up, sobered, he told Bhattacharjee, “Bro, I think I am in trouble.” Bhattacharjee added that before the incident, he informed the crew that Mishra was ‘visibly drunk’ and they should cut off the alcohol supply.
• Mishra’s lawyers claim that he had paid Rs 15,000 as compensation to the woman. In a statement issued through his lawyers Ishanee Sharma and Akshat Bajpai, Mishra said he had got the woman’s clothes and bags cleaned on November 28 and the same were delivered to her on November 30.
• The woman had displayed no intention to lodge a complaint, Mishra’s lawyers said. “The lady in her message has clearly condoned the alleged act and has displayed no intention to lodge a complaint. The lady’s persisting grievance was only with respect to the adequate compensation being paid by the Airline for which she has raised a subsequent complaint on December 20, 2022,” the statement read.
• The money was returned by the woman’s daughter on December 19. A message of December 19 purportedly sent by the woman’s daughter says she was traumatized by her experience and that the family was very “upset, outraged and angry”. It says the family did not want his money which will be returned via Paytm. The woman’s daughter asked Mishra not to communicate with her mother any further. There is also attached a screenshot of the transaction returning the money.
• He had not slept for 30-35 hours, his father said, claiming the case was “false”. “I don’t think he would have done it. The lady was 72 years old, she is like his mother. He is a 34-year-old man. How can he do it? He is married and has an 18-year-old daughter,” he said.
• Mishra sacked by Wells Fargo. Shankar Mishra, who was the vice-president of the India Chapter of an American multinational financial services firm Wells Fargo was sacked as the company said that the allegations against Mishra were “deeply disturbing”.
• Mishra is currently absconding. A four-member Delhi police team on Friday afternoon landed in Mumbai in search of Mishra. Earlier today, the Police interrogated 2 people in Mumbai in connection to the case. As per news agency ANI sources, the last location of the accused passenger was traced to Bengaluru and he is being searched using technical surveillance.

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