Bengaluru police on Saturday, 7 January, said it helped a Delhi police team pick up Shankar Mishra, the man who allegedly urinated on a woman on board an Air India flight from New York to Delhi in November last year.
The accused, who holds a senior position in the US financial services company Wells Fargo, had been staying in the Sanjay Nagar area in North Bengaluru ever since a lookout notice was issued for him, the police said.
“Our Central Crime Branch (CCB) officers were assisting the Delhi police in securing the accused Shankar Mishra” after he was traced to the Sanjay Nagar apartment, Dr Sharanappa, Joint Commissioner of Police (Crime), told South First.
According to the police, Mishra was staying in a guest house of a company. Police are trying to ascertain which company’s guest house it was.
The office of the accused is situated in Bengaluru and it was found in the preliminary investigation that he was working from home.
Mishra, a Mumbai resident, is being taken to Delhi, where an FIR regarding the incident has been filed.
The incident
Shankar Mishra, allegedly in an inebriated condition, urinated on his co-passenger, a senior citizen in her seventies, in the business class of the Air India New York-Delhi flight on 26 November.
According to the FIR by Delhi police, shortly after lunch was served and the lights were switched off on board AI 102, the inebriated male passenger seated in Business Class seat 8A walked to the elderly woman’s seat, unzipped his pants and urinated on her.
The woman alleged that despite her unwillingness, she was forced to confront the accused and negotiate with him, further disorienting her, according to the FIR registered based on her complaint to Air India.
He kept standing there until the person sitting next to the woman told him to go back, at which point he “staggered back to his seat”.
“I immediately got up to notify the stewardess of what had happened…I asked the staff for a change of seat but was told that no other seats were available… Later, the flight staff informed the woman that the offender wanted to apologise to her. In response, she said that she did not wish to interact with him or see his face and wanted him to be arrested on arrival.”
She said her son-in-law sent a complaint to Air India on 27 November and the airline agreed to reimburse the ticket. However, it has only issued a partial refund that, she said, was “hardly sufficient compensation for my traumatic experience”.
Sections under which case registered
Based on the woman’s complaint, a case was registered under sections 294 (obscene act in public place), 354 (assault or criminal force to woman with intent to outrage her modesty), 509 (word, gesture or act intended to insult the modesty of a woman) and 510 (misconduct in public by a drunken person) of the Indian Penal Code as well as under Aircraft Rules.
Meanwhile, Mishra’s employer, Wells Fargo, were he was vice president, terminated his employment.
“This individual has been terminated from Well Fargo,” the firm said in a statement, adding that allegations were “deeply disturbing”.
“We are cooperating with law enforcement and ask that any additional inquiry be directed to them,” the statement added.
Air India, which had imposed just a 30-day flying ban on Mishra, set up an internal panel to probe whether there were lapses on part of the crew in addressing the situation.
With questions being raised about the airline not immediately reporting the unruly passenger to law enforcement authorities, the airline’s CEO has advised staff to report all incidents irrespective of a settlement being reached.
“We must also be clear on the standard of behaviour that is expected on our aircraft and take firm, decisive and timely action against those who do not comply,” he added.
(With inputs from PTI)
