Charges completely false, says father of man who urinated on AI co-flier

The father of Shankar Mishra, accused of urinating on a co-passenger onboard an Air India flight from New York to Delhi, on Friday claimed the charges against his son are "completely false".

The accused had urinated on his co-passenger, a woman in her seventies, allegedly in an inebriated condition, in the business class of the Air India flight on November 26 last year.

Mishra, who was working with the US multinational firm Wells Fargo in a senior position in India, has been sacked from the job, the company said on Friday. A four-member Delhi Police team landed in Mumbai on Friday afternoon in search of Mishra but found his home locked.

"This is completely a false case. According to my son, he had his food and slept on the flight. He is 34 years old and I don't think he can do such a thing. He has a wife and a daughter," Mishra's father said.

The airline had on Wednesday said it has 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.

Based on the woman passenger's complaint, a case was registered under sections 294 (obscene act in a 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 the Aircraft Rules.