'Settlement was done, compensation PayTM-ed': Man who urinated on Air India co-flyer

The Delhi Police is on the look out for Shankar Mishra, who, while allegedly drunk, unzipped and urinated on his co-flyer on a New York-New Delhi flight.

New Delhi, Jan 06: Shankar Mishra, who is accused of "peeing" on another co-flyer, a senior citizen, has released a statement saying the matter was settled and compensation was paid via PayTM to get her clothes and bag cleaned. He has released a statement through his lawyers.

"If you go through WhatsApp messages between accused and woman, it clearly shows that accused has gotten clothes-bags cleaned; woman has condoned the action but accepted her stuff back," said advocate Ishanee Sharma, counsel for accused S Mishra.

"She accepted compensation and not used words like "I don't need it" or "This won't do" in any message. Suddenly there was an after-thought, I want to call it a malicious after-thought, where they returned money and said, "This isn't done and don't keep any contact with us", the counsel said.

The accused paid the compensation via PayTM on November 28. But almost a month later, the money was returned by the woman's daughter on December 19, as per the statement.

The statement added that there was no eyewitness to the incident and all statements were merely hearsay evidence. The settlement reached between the parties has also been affirmed in the statements so submitted by the cabin crew.

"There is no eyewitness account, nobody came out to say that they have seen the incident happening. How is that possible? The plane had more people, besides the two people in question. There are a lot of loopholes," he added.

Shankar Mishra, in an inebriated state, unzipped and urinated on the woman on a New York-New Delhi flight.

Based on the victim's complaint, a case was registered under sections 294 (obscene act in public place), 354 (assault or criminal force to woman with intent to outrage her modesty), 509 (word, gesture or act intended to insult the modesty of a woman) and 510 (misconduct in public by a drunken person) of the Indian Penal Code as well as under Aircraft Rules.

The airline on Wednesday said it had imposed a 30-day flying ban on the accused passenger and set up an internal panel to probe whether there were lapses on part of the crew in addressing the situation.

A lookout circular has been issued against the accused to prevent him from fleeing the country.