American banking giant Wells Fargo has said it has fired a senior executive in India, Shankar Mishra, after he allegedly urinated on a fellow passenger on board an Air India flight.
Mishra, formerly the vice president of operations at Wells Fargo in India, lost his job after allegedly urinating on a 72-year-old woman. She wrote to the airline to complain about the alleged incident that happened last November.
In a statement, Wells Fargo said it “holds employees to the highest standards of professional and personal conduct and we find these allegations deeply disturbing.”
“This individual has been terminated from Wells Fargo,” the statement said.
Wells Fargo also noted that the bank “is cooperating with law enforcement and requests that any additional inquiries be directed to them.”
fly drunk
Mishra, from Mumbai, was reportedly intoxicated at the time of his flight from New York to Delhi on November 26 when the alleged incident took place.
New Delhi Police said Mishra is still at large despite having been in contact with his family.
However, Mishra released a statement through a lawyer showing that he had already reached an agreement with the Karnataka woman he allegedly urinated on and paid her compensation.
Victim reports distress
India Today reported that Mishra’s statement, released through his lawyer, read in part: “The WhatsApp messages between the accused and the lady clearly show that the accused cleaned the clothes and bags on November 28th and cleaned them on November 30th. were delivered in November. “
The statement added that the woman returned the compensation money Mishra paid through her daughter on December 19 and then filed a follow-up complaint with the airline on December 20 last year.
In her complaint, she said she told the crew to let airport police arrest him and stay away from her. Instead, she claims, “The crew brought the perpetrator before me against my will and we had to face each other in the crew seats,” reported the India Times.
The woman said that when Mishra sobered up, he apologized and started to cry. He is said to have asked her not to file any complaints.
She reportedly found it difficult to insist on his arrest or to press charges after he expressed remorse for his actions.
Air India was recently acquired by the Tata Group after decades under government control. The airline has been heavily criticized for how it handled the woman’s complaint.
Aviation regulators in India have criticized the airline for not reporting the incident.
In a statement, the Directorate-General for Civil Aviation said: “The behavior of the airline concerned appears to be unprofessional and has resulted in a system failure.”
ar/aw (AFP, Portal)