Who is Shankar Mishra? Accused of urinating on septuagenarian on Delhi-bound Air India flight; Arrested!

The accused, Shankar Mishra, has been arrested from Bengaluru by Delhi Police for allegedly urinating on an elderly woman co-passenger onboard an Air India flight from New York to Delhi.

"Shankar Mishra has been brought to Delhi for further investigation in the case. He was arrested after multiple raids. On January 3, he had switched off his phone and his last location was traced to Bengaluru," said Delhi Police sources.

Mishra is the vice president of the India Chapter of an American multinational financial services company headquartered in California.

The office of the accused is situated in Bengaluru and it was found during preliminary investigation that he was working from home, the officer said, adding that police are conducting raids to nab him.

Deputy Commissioner of Police (Airport) Ravi Kumar Singh said, "Accused Shankar Mishra in IGIA case has been arrested from Bengaluru by a Delhi Police team. He has been brought to Delhi and further investigation into the case is in progress."

The accused was staying at his sister's home in Sanjay Nagar, Bengaluru. The city police assisted the Delhi Police team in arresting him, a Bengaluru police official said.

According to the FIR, shortly after lunch was served and the lights were switched off onboard AI 102 on November 26, 2022, the inebriated male passenger seated in business class seat 8A walked to the elderly woman's seat, unzipped his pants and urinated on her.

Earlier, teams of Delhi Police in Maharashtra and Bengaluru raided and questioned various people including relatives of the accused, as he was absconding.

Meanwhile, investigators have also called two pilots and crew members to join the probe and record their statements.

Mishra was booked under Sections 510 (misconduct in public by a drunken person), 509 (insulting the modesty of a woman), 294 (sings, recites or utters any obscene song, ballad or words, in or near any public place), 354 (intending to outrage modesty) of the Indian Penal Code as well as a section of the Aircraft Rules Act in a case registered at IGI airport police station.

The accused, Shankar Mishra, had urinated on his co-passenger, a senior citizen in her 70s, allegedly in an inebriated condition in the business class of the Air India flight on November 26 last year.

Mishra had exchanged messages with her after the unsavoury incident and his lawyers claimed on Friday he even paid her Rs 15,000 as compensation and got her belongings cleaned.

However, WhatsApp exchanges between the woman's daughter and Mishra that emerged on Friday showed the family had returned money.

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.

With Agency Inputs