Tata Chief Says ‘Fell Short of Addressing Situation’; Co-flyer Recalls Accused Had 4 Drinks, Claims Crew Smiled When He Flagged Issue

The cabin crew aboard the Air India flight that arrived from New York to Delhi on November 26 last year was aware that one of the passengers aboard, was in an inebriated state. The claim was made by another co-passenger named Sugata Bhattacharjee, in the case of a passenger who allegedly urinated on an elderly woman passenger during the course of the flight.

On Sunday, Chairman Tata Sons, N Chandrasekaran issued an official statement in the matter. He wrote, ? The incident on Air India flight AI102 on November 26, has been a matter of personal anguish to me and my colleagues at Air India. The airline?s response should?ve been much swifter.?

Meanwhile, after facing backlash, Air India issued show-cause notices to four of its cabin crew and one pilot and de-rostered them pending investigations. Shankar Mishra, accused of urinating on the co-passenger, was sent to 14-day judicial custody by Delhi’s Patiala House Court on Saturday.

Speaking exclusively to CNN-News18, Sugata Bhattacharjee claimed that he had informed that crew about Mishra?s drunken state, but ?they just smiled?. He also said that the woman passenger was made to wait for 2 hours by the pilot, before she got an alternative seat.

?Shankar Mishra had four drinks during lunch, and was so drunk that he fell on me during turbulence. When I raised the issue to the crew, they just smiled,? he said. He further claimed that he had written a complaint to the airline but they didn?t pay attention. ?The Air India crew onboard the November 26 flight, made Shankar Mishra and the woman co-passenger reach a settlement,? he said.

Bhattacharjee is a US-based renowned Doctor of Audiology, was seated next to Shankar Mishra. In a written complaint, he claimed that the woman passenger was made to go back to her soiled seat despite four seats in the first class being vacant, reported news agency PTI.

Talking about the woman co-passenger, Bhattacharjee said she was a ?decent woman?. He also said that the woman could?ve been shifted to first class, but the cabin crew didn?t do so.

?The only option for her was to move to 1st class as business class was full, but what they (flight crew) did was clean her seat and kept blankets on seat smelling of urine,? he told news agency ANI.

?A crime happened, it was their job to report it to the appropriate authorities. While the Pilot in Command (PIC) should?ve been doing his duty, he was resting,? Bhattacharjee further said.

He also said that it was triggering to hear the father of an inebriated man (Shankar Mishra) claim that the incident did not happen. ?I would not have been this vocal. I waited but when his father said this did not happen, is what triggered me,? Bhattacharjee told PTI in an interview over the phone.

?The dignity of a woman was played with. The Tatas name has been tarnished. It?s not a happy story. But at the end of the day, it was a moral call for me, it was morality and I thought it was my moral obligation to stand and make a complaint and I did,” he said.

Mishra had been absconding for some time, but was finally arrested from Bengaluru on Saturday, through joint efforts by the Delhi and Bengaluru police.

According to the Delhi Police sources, they issued an airport alert, tried to trace his phone, and monitored bank transactions. ?He switched off his phone on January 3 that was his last location,? the sources said. The accused was using auto rickshaws for travelling.

Meanwhile, in a statement issued through his lawyers Ishanee Sharma and Akshat Bajpai, Mishra said he had got the woman’s clothes and bags cleaned on November 28 and the same were delivered to her on November 30.

The accused claimed that he had paid the money agreed upon by both sides, on PayTM on November 28 but after almost a month on December 19, the woman?s daughter returned the money.

The lawyers also claimed that the woman co-passenger had expressed no intention to lodge a complaint against the accused. “The lady in her message has clearly condoned the alleged act and has displayed no intention to lodge a complaint. The lady’s persisting grievance was only with respect to the adequate compensation being paid by the Airline for which she has raised a subsequent complaint on December 20, 2022,? the statement read.

Shankar Mishra, who was the vice-president of the India Chapter of an American multinational financial services firm Wells Fargo was sacked as the company said that the allegations against Mishra were “deeply disturbing?.

Air India chief executive officer (CEO) Campbell Wilson on Friday asked the airline staff to report any instances of ?any improper behaviour on board to authorities at the earliest even if the matter appears to be resolved?.

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