Accused Shankar Mishra who urinated on co-passenger arrested from Bengaluru

Shankar Mishra, the Mumbai-based businessman, who urinated on a woman on an Air India flight in November last year, has been arrested from Bengaluru by the Delhi police on Saturday, January 7. This arrest comes a day after a lookout notice was issued against him, following which the police sent search parties to Mumbai and Bengaluru in search for Shankar, who has been absconding ever since the issue came to light. As per reports, although Shankar had switched off his phone, the police managed to track him down to Bengaluru as he was using his social media accounts to communicate with his friends. 

It was on November 26, 2022, on a Delhi bound Air India flight from New York, when Shankar, who was seated in the row ahead of the woman on the flight, walked towards her in a completely inebriated state and urinated on her, soiling her clothes, shoes, and bag containing documents including her passport. 

Following the woman’s complaint, 34-year-old Shankar was booked by the Delhi police under Sections 294 (obscene act in any 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 (IPC).

Meanwhile, Shankar, on Friday, was also sacked by his employer Wells Fargo, an American multinational financial services company. He was the Vice President of the India chapter of the US-based firm. 

After the incident came to light, Air India had also imposed a 30-day travel ban on Shankar and set up an internal inquiry committee to look into the alleged lapses by the crew members. The complainant woman had, in her complaint, alleged that the cabin crew were not sensitive towards her and declined her request to be given another seat in first class.