On November 26, 2022, an inebriated passenger named Shankar Mishra, onboard Air India flight AI-102, traveling from New York to Delhi, urinated on a female co-passenger. In the latest development, it has been reported that the accused passenger had told his co-passenger that he is in trouble after he exposed himself and urinated on a female co-passenger.
Sugata Bhattacharjee, a US-based doctor of audiology and Mishra’s co-passenger on the flight on November 26 told the Times of India that the accused had downed four glasses of single malt during lunch.
“He looked visibly drunk, he asked me thrice what do your children do? I told a male purser to cut off his alcohol supply,” Bhattacharjee said.
Two women passengers were seated behind them. Although Bhattacharjee was asleep when the accused passenger urinated on the female passenger in seat 9A, however, he said that he witnessed the events that followed.
“Though the woman was visibly distraught the cabin crew members persuaded her to talk to the passenger who peed on her. A drunk guy is a drunk guy is a drunk guy, when a guy has done such a crime you do not bring it to the victim and allow him to apologize to her,” Bhattacharjee added.
Furthermore, Sugata Bhattacharjee said that after urinating on the woman, there was a point when Mishra dozed off. “After he woke up and sobered up, he told me, ‘Bro I think I’m in trouble’. I said yes, you are.”
In another update, the father of the accused has on January 6, claimed that the case against his son Shankar Mishra is ‘false’ and that he was blackmailed.
“She (victim) had demanded payment and it was made as well. Don’t know what happened after that. She must have demanded something that was not met that must have upset her. Perhaps there was blackmailing,” Shyam Mishra, father of the accused passenger told ANI.
Shyam Mishra went on to say that his son was sleep deprived and must have slept after consuming liquor served by the airline staff.
“This is a false case, my son had not slept for 30-35 hours, he must have slept after having the drink served by airline staff. He was questioned by the staff after he woke up”, Mishra added.
He also claimed that his son could not have committed such a crime, “She (victim) is an elderly woman, my son is 34 years old, she is like a mother to him. My son is married and has an 18-month-old daughter. I don’t think he would do it.”
It is pertinent to mention that the accused is still absconding. When asked about the whereabouts of his son, Shyam Mishra said that he has no knowledge about it.