The father of a Mumbai man wanted by police for urinating on an elderly woman on an Air India flight in November said on Friday that his son had not slept for two days and termed the case against him as false. He also hinted at a possible blackmail angle.
Shankar Mishra, 34, who has been sacked by his company, is missing and a lookout notice or airport alert has been issued for him as police search for him.
“She (the victim woman) demanded some payment and it was also paid. I don’t know what happened after that. She must have been demanding something which was not fulfilled which hurt her ego. Quite It is possible that this is being done to blackmail him,” said Shankar Mishra’s lawyer father Shyam Mishra.
Shankar Mishra allegedly drunk and urinated on a 72-year-old woman on November 26. He was let go without any action. Air India filed a police complaint on 4 January. The airline defended the delay, saying it believed the woman and the perpetrator had “resolved the matter”.
Junior Mishra had claimed that he had paid the amount on Paytm on November 28 as agreed upon by both the parties, but almost a month later, on December 19, the woman’s daughter returned the money.
He also said that the statements recorded by the cabin crew before the inquiry committee showed that there were no witnesses to the incident and “all statements are mere hearsay evidence”.
The father claimed, “He was tired. Hadn’t slept for two days. He had a drink provided by the airline and fell asleep.”
The father said that his son “is cordial and cannot do anything like this”.
The father claimed, “Never seen him misbehaving with women of his age, how can he misbehave with a 72-year-old woman.”
After the urinating incident, the Air India crew reportedly took Shankar Mishra to the woman, saying he wanted to apologise. In her complaint to the airline, the woman said she was forced to confront him as he begged to be spared, citing his family.
The woman said that although she demanded Shankar Mishra’s arrest immediately after landing, the crew told her that he wanted to apologize and brought her to them “against my wishes”.