Who is Shankar Mishra, Wells Fargo vice-president sacked for urinating on woman in Air India flight

The Delhi Police has urged the Bureau of Immigration to issue a lookout circular against Shankar Mishra, the man accused of urinating on his female co-passenger in the business class of an Air India flight. The incident took place on November 26 on a New York-Delhi flight. The police want to prevent the man from leaving the country. Multiple teams have been sent to his possible locations in order to arrest him but he is missing. The police registered an FIR against the man after the elderly woman lodged an official complaint against Shankar Mishra.

The woman had written a letter to the Tata Group saying the man urinated on her in an inebriated condition, and her clothes, bags, socks were completely soaked in the person's urine. She said the Air India crew refused to give her an alternate seat as her existing seat was reeking of urine. She accused the crew of bringing the man before her, further exacerbating her mental trauma. The man allegedly begged the woman to not lodge a police complaint as he was a family man. The crew later let the man go. She accused the crew of being unprofessional and insensitive.

Air India said in its clarification that it didn't report the matter to the authorities as the crew thought the matter had been resolved.

The civil aviation regulator of India, DGCA, has issued notices to the officials and crew of the flight, asking why action shouldn't be taken against them for failing to perform their duty. 

Who is Shankar Mishra?

According to the police, Shankar Mishra, worked as the vice-president of the Indian Chapter of an American multinational financial company. The company has its headquarters in California.

Mishra is a resident of Mumbai. 

He has been booked under IPC 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) as well as under Aircraft Rules.

On Wednesday, Air India imposed a 30-day flying ban on the accused. They also initiated an internal probe.

The police later registered an FIR. The man is absconding.

He was employed with Wells Fargo, a San Francisco-based conglomerate that offers financial services. The company is a financial services company with assets worth $1.9 trillion. It caters to small businesses in the United States.

Shankar Mishra had joined Wells Fardo in 2021. He had also been associated with many multinational banks between 2016 and 2021.

Wells Fargo said in a statement while sacking him that the allegations were deeply disturbing. 

"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. We are cooperating with the law enforcement agencies and ask that any additional inquiries be directed to them," the company said.

Mishra has been changing his locations to evade arrest. He frequently visits Mumbai and Bengaluru as he has offices in these cities. The police suspect he could be in Delhi as well. He is reportedly a native of Uttar Pradesh's Lucknow.

According to media reports, the woman had asked the staff to get Mishra arrested immediately upon their landing, but the crew brought him to her.

Per NDTV, the woman clearly told the crew she didn't want to interact with him but the crew brought him to her and made them sit opposite each other.

Mishra said he was a family man and he didn't want his wife and child to suffer because of him. She said as he kept pleading, she found it difficult to insist on his arrest.

She said in her letter that Air India gave Shankar Mishra saying he would pay for her shoes and drycleaning but she refused.