Air India CEO apologises, says pilot, crew de-rostered
New Delhi, January 7
Shankar Mishra, the man accused of urinating on a woman co-passenger in the business class of Air India’s New York-Delhi flight on November 26 last year in an inebriated condition, was arrested from Bengaluru on Saturday and remanded by a Delhi court in 14-day judicial custody.
Accused mishra held, in judicial remand
The Delhi Police arrested Shankar Mishra from Bengaluru after tracing his whereabouts using technical surveillance
AI to review policy on serving alcohol
In view of an inebriated flyer urinating on a co-passenger, Air India is learnt to be reviewing its policy on serving alcohol on flights
Victim waited 2 hours for another seat
The traumatised flyer had to wait for close to two hours before being allotted another seat, a co-flyer said in his complaint, alleging the woman was made to return to her soiled seat despite four seats in the First Class being vacant
The arrest came as Campbell Wilson, Air India CEO, apologised for the incident, saying that four cabin crew and a pilot had been de-rostered. “There is no ground for police custody. Just because there is public pressure, don’t do this… go by the law. Everything is known already. No one else is to be arrested,” Metropolitan Magistrate Anamika said when the Delhi Police sought three-day police custody saying the accused was required to be identified by Air India staff and statements of other witnesses were to be recorded.
The Delhi Police arrested Mishra after tracing his whereabouts using technical surveillance. An FIR was lodged against him on January 4 on a complaint given by the woman, a senior citizen, to Air India. Mishra, who was working with US multinational firm Wells Fargo in India, was sacked on Friday.
Deputy Commissioner of Police (Airport) Ravi Kumar Singh said, “Accused Shankar Mishra has been brought to Delhi and further investigation into the case is in progress.” Mishra was living in his sister’s house in Bengaluru’s Sanjay Nagar and was arrested with the assistance of the Karnataka Police. Police sources said Mishra had switched off his cellphone on January 3 with his last location traced to Bengaluru. He was finally tracked down through technical surveillance of the taxi route he took. “We extracted his travel history and the route he followed to reach office. On Friday night, Mishra’s location was traced to Mysuru. The taxi driver who ferried him gave some leads based on which Mishra was arrested,” said the police.
The FIR states that after lunch was served on the AI 102 flight, the inebriated male passenger seated in business class seat 8A walked up to an elderly lady, unzipped his pants and urinated on her. The FIR against Mishra is 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 IPC as well as under Aircraft Rules.
It states that the accused begged the elderly woman not to complain against him and said he did not wish his family to be affected. The airline staff summoned by the Delhi Police on Saturday did not turn up for questioning.
