Mumbai man who peed on co-passenger aboard Air India flight arrested

On the run after hitting the headlines for urinating on an elderly woman aboard an Air India flight in November, Mumbai resident Shankar Mishra was arrested by the Delhi police from Bengaluru on Saturday, sources said. A lookout notice was already put out to trace him.

The arrest came after the Delhi police got some ‘vital clues’ on his whereabouts and subsequently deployed a team in Bengaluru to nab him. Interestingly, though Mishra had switched off his mobile phone, he was using his social media accounts to communicate with his friends, which gave crucial leads to the police in the manhunt. Sources said the 34-year-old accused also used his credit card, at least once.

The Bengaluru police also confirmed the arrest of Mishra. The accused had been holed up in Bengaluru ever since a lookout circular was issued. “We aided the Delhi police in zeroing in on him. He has been picked up, but we don’t know whether he has been formally arrested,” a top police officer said. The officer revealed that Mishra was arrested from the Sanjay Nagar area.

Also read: Wells Fargo sacks India VP Shankar Mishra for urinating on Air India co-passenger

The incident dates back to November 26 last year, when Mishra, aboard a New York-Delhi Air India flight, unzipped his pants and urinated on an elderly woman in the business class. Sensing that he may land in trouble, he pleaded with the woman not to report him to the police, saying that it would affect his family.

Mishra’s lawyers tried to brush the matter under the carpet, contending that he had exchanged messages with the woman and even paid her ₹15,000 as compensation, besides ensuring that her belongings were cleaned. However, the woman’s daughter had reportedly returned the money after a month, saying they couldn’t accept it.

Earlier, Mishra’s employer, US-based Wells Fargo, terminated him, saying the allegations were “deeply disturbing”. He worked as vice-president of the India chapter of the multinational firm, which is headquartered in California.

“Wells Fargo holds employees to the highest standards of professional and personal behaviour and we find these allegations deeply disturbing. This individual has been terminated from Wells Fargo,” the company said in a statement last evening.