Shankar Mishra, accused in Air India peegate scandal, denied bail by Delhi court

Shankar Mishra, the accused in the Air India peegate case.

The man who in an inebriated state urinated on an elderly passenger on an Air India flight in November has been denied bail by a Delhi court today.

Shankar Mishra had been sent to judicial custody for 14 days and his bail plea was today rejected by Metropolitan Magistrate Komal Garg saying it was not appropriate to release him on bail at this stage.

Mishra, 34, was on an Air India New York to Delhi flight in the business class when he got drunk, exposed himself and urinated on a woman in her 70s. The aggrieved woman wrote to Tata Group Chairman N Chandrasekaran recounting her horror as she listed where the cabin crew had faltered. Air India is run by the Tata Group.

She said the incident took place soon after lunch was served on the flight and after the lights were switched off. The drunk man, she said, walked to her seat, unzipped his pants and proceeded to urinate on her. He didn’t stop exposing himself even after the disgusting act, she recalled, adding that he left only after a co-passenger asked him to leave.

She then informed the cabin crew about the incident who then “verified that it smelled of urine” and sprayed disinfectant on her bag and shoes.

The elderly woman, who changed into a set of pyjamas and disposable footwear that the crew gave her, stood near the toilet of the aircraft for nearly 20 minutes since she did not want to return to her smelly and soiled seat, according to the report. She sat on the narrow crew seat for an hour before being asked to return to her own seat. She was later moved to another crew seat for the rest of the flight.

She was then told she would be given a wheelchair to clear customs at Delhi airport soonest but even that apparently took time.

“The wheelchair deposited me at a waiting area, where I waited for 30 minutes, and nobody came to get me. I finally had to clear customs on my own and collect the luggage by myself – all in Air India pyjamas and socks,” she wrote in her letter to Chandrasekaran.

Mishra, the Vice President of the India chapter of American financial firm Wells Fargo was fired after the allegations came to light before he was arrested. Air India has also been served a show-cause notice by the DGCA, to which the airline has responded.