'Malicious Afterthought': Shankar Mishra's Lawyer on Woman Raising Pee Incident After Accepting Compensation

The Bengaluru Police on Saturday confirmed the arrest of Shankar Mishra, who is accused of ?urinating? on a senior citizen co-passenger on an Air India flight from New York to Delhi on November 26. Mishra was arrested from a guest house in Bengaluru and was brought to Delhi later where he was produced in a court over the matter. The court has sent him to 14-day judicial custody.

The accused, who held a top post in the US financial services company Wells Fargo until he was fired on Friday, had been holed up in Bengaluru ever since a lookout circular was issued as the matter escalated over a month after the incident took place.

His lawyer spoke to News18 and said that while the matter is now in court and everything will be decided by trial led by evidence, there always is a different side of a story, adding that ?we have been pushing too hard for one side of this entire story?. The lawyer called the criminal complaint against Mishra by the woman after accepting compensation a ?malicious afterthought?.

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Raising some questions which she termed important, Shankar Mishra?s lawyer Ishanee Sharma asked as to how is there no complaint or eyewitness account from those who were sitting on the middle and the aisle seats when the accused, as per claims, was urinating on the passenger who was sitting on 9A, which is a window seat.

?There are a few very very important questions. 1. We know that the seat number of the lady was 9A. 9A is a window seat. So arguably there would be someone sitting in the between? There would be someone seated on the aisle seat? We have heard no complaints, no eyewitness account, no one coming out and saying that I was on the aisle seat I got affected in the process or I witnessed this with my own eyes, ? Mishra?s lawyer Ishanee Sharma told News18.

She added that Mishra, when he was in a ?better state?, was told what all he did and was not in a state to recall what he did, he apologised, which was also accepted.

?Saying my client was inebriated, was intoxicated?the client was not in his best frame of mind but you cannot presume it to be just under the influence of alcohol. Because when he was in a better state, he was told, he was accused of a certain things that you did this, you did this, you did this, and he was not in a state to actually recall what he did, he apologised, and his apology was accepted,? the lawyer said.

?You can read the WhatsApp messages, he has been very very apologetic and respectful to the female in question and that apology was well taken,? she added. The lawyer called the criminal complaint by the woman in question and return of the compensation money an ?afterthought?, adding that the woman had said replied with ?received? when the money was sent to her.

?I?d call it a malicious afterthought,? the lawyer said.

Shankar Mishra is accused of urinating on a woman co-passenger in an inebriated condition in the business class of the Air India flight from New York to Delhi on November 26 last year.

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