Shankar Mishra or Suraj M? Does the man accused of urinating on 70-year-old woman have another online identity?

In its FIR, the Delhi Police has identified the accused in the infamous Air India incident as Shankar Mishra. He allegedly urinated intoxicatedly on an elderly female co-passenger of a business class on a flight from New York to New Delhi, and the incident has recently made headlines.

Shankar Mishra, who was at a high profile position as Vice President of the American financial services company Wells Fargo, has a second digital persona called Suraj M, according to a digital analysis of his social media presence by the Open Source Intelligence (OSINT) team of India Today. In earlier media reports, a person named Shekhar Mishra was mentioned; however, Shankar Mishra was later named as the accused in the police's FIR.

India Today discovered Suraj M.'s profile while conducting a LinkedIn search for the Vice President of Wells Fargo. It's interesting to note that this person's professional background and education exactly match with that of Shankar Mishra. The "a day in the life" of "Shankar Mishra, Senior Analyst, (ICG Risk GIRM Mumbai COE)" appeared after further investigation into his LinkedIn activities, confirming that both the names Suraj and Shankar belong to the same person.

During the investigation, it is revealed that Shankar Mishra aka Suraj M had a LinkedIn premium account that allowed the operator to view the profiles of visitors but did not show other linked social media handles like Instagram and Facebook.

Additionally, Suraj M's LinkedIn profile and Shankar Mishra's portfolio on the internet contact aggregator Rocket Reach (https://rocketreach.co/) exactly match in terms of Shankar Mishra's qualifications, professional history, and educational background. This suggests that his LinkedIn profile may have used the name Shankar Mishra instead of Suraj in the past, as well as a different profile picture. Shankar's identity was also confirmed by his employer, Wells Fargo, which stated, "Wells Fargo holds employees to the highest standards of professional and personal behaviour. We are fully cooperating with the authorities in their investigation of this incident".

Who is Shankar Mishra aka Suraj?

The accused, who holds a management degree from the Narsee Monjee Institute, worked for 10 years at Citi Bank, the top provider of financial services in the United States, rising from the position of trainee analyst to vice president. He describes the job as "demanding," stretching "oneself beyond the normal working hours," in his written article from 2015. He recently assumed the position of Vice President at Wells Fargo in February 2021.

India Today also obtained access to his Whatsapp phone number, where he ironically posts the status "Mistakes don't DEFINE us, Mistakes REFINE us," likely admitting to his offensive behaviour in a very subtle way. As he notes in a post from 2015, there is yet another irony. “At the end of the task you always become proud and have a big smile on your face when the transaction which you have worked on becomes a newspaper headline another day….”.

“Traumatizing” Account of the Co-passenger
 
The incident happened on an Air India flight from New York to Delhi in late November. The other passenger, a 70-year-old woman, shared her ordeal in a letter to Air India to express her regret.
 
She describes the "unprofessional" actions of Air India employees who committed numerous errors in handling the "sensitive" situation in the traumatic account. Air India made a number of mistakes, including asking the woman to sit in the same "soiled" seat even though there were other available business class seats, serving too many drinks to passengers, and only partially reimbursing the woman for her flight fare.
 
In spite of the victim making it clear that she did not want to speak with the offender, the airline made the offender sit in front of the woman and apologise, which was a serious error on their part. The man “started crying and profusely apologizing to me, begging me not to lodge a complaint against him because he is a family man who did not want his wife and child to be affected by this incident.” She was made to negotiate with the perpetrator in her already “distraught” condition.
 
A case has been filed against him to find the accused Shankar Mishra. In a letter sent to the relevant parties on Thursday, Delhi Police requested a Look Out Circular (LOC) against Shankar Mishra. In light of Mishra's isolation and refusal to assist the police investigation, sources told India Today that the Delhi Police has requested a Letter of Complaint (LOC) against him.
 
A case has been filed under IPC sections 510 (misbehaviour in public by a drunk person), 509 (insulting the modesty of a woman), 294 (obscene act in public), and 354 (sexual harassment).

Also Read: Air India 'pee-gate': Flight incident turns into PR nightmare for airline

Also Read: Air India incident: Matter was settled, woman compensated, says man who urinated on female passenger