Ahead of the Air India pee case, Sugata Bhattacharjee, a US-based doctor of audiology who was seated next to accused Shankar Mishra in business class on the New York-New Delhi Air India flight, has alleged that the flight crew cleaned the elderly women passenger’s seat and kept blankets it smelling of urine after the women requested for a new seat, news agency ANI reported.

On Saturday, a Delhi court sent accused Mishra, who allegedly urinated on the woman co-passenger on an Air India flight, to judicial remand for 14 days while rejecting a plea by police for his custody.

Earlier, Bhattacharjee claimed that the captain of the flight made the traumatized victim wait for close to two hours before allocating her a fresh seat, alleged that the crew could have given Mishra’s seat to her but they didn’t do anything to pacify distressed passenger.

Also Read: Air India Pee Case: Shankar Mishra Is Sentenced To 14 Days In Judicial Custody

Co-Passenger Bhattacharjee On Air India Pee Case

“The lady (victim) was quite decent. Two junior air hostesses cleaned her up. I went to the senior stewardess and asked them to give her another seat, she said that she can’t do that as they had to take permission from the captain,” the co-passenger told ANI.

“The only option for her was to move to 1st class as business class was full, what they (the flight crew) did was clean her seat and kept blankets on the seat smelling of urine. They could have given Shankar Mishra’s seat but they didn’t do anything to pacify the distressed passenger,” Sugata said.

While recalling the incident, Bhattacharjee said, Mishra had four drinks and then was asking him the “same questions multiple times”. “I finished lunch and told the flight attendant to keep an eye on him,” he added.

Earlier, in a handwritten complaint to the airline, the doctor of audiology said the woman passenger was made to go back to her soiled seat despite four seats in the first class being vacant.

Bhattacharjee’s shocking statements come after the 70-year-old victim made a similar allegation against the Air India crew. In her complaint to the airline, she wrote: “I asked the staff for a change of seat but was told that no other seats were available. However, another business class passenger who had witnessed my plight and was advocating for me pointed out that there were seats available in first class.”

After standing for 20 minutes, the victim was offered a small seat used by airline staff where she sat for about two hours. She was then asked to return to her own seat. When she refused, the victim was offered the steward’s seat for the rest of the journey, the Delhi Police FIR stated.

Accused Father Denies The Allegations

Ahead of the allegations on Shankar, Shyam Mishra his father, denied that his 34-year-old son could have done it and described it as a “totally false case”.

“This is a totally false case. My son hadn’t slept for 30-35 hours. After dinner, he might’ve consumed the drink given by the crew and then slept. From what I understand, he was questioned by airline staff after he woke up,” Shyam told ANI.

While denying the allegations, Shyam Mishra said, “I don’t think he would do it. She (the victim) is a 72-year-old woman, she is like his mother. He (the accused, his son) is a 34-year-old man. How can he do it? He is married and has an 18-year-old daughter.”

He also added that there were no eyewitnesses to the incident.

“She (victim) had demanded payment and it was made. Don’t know what happened next. Must have demanded something that perhaps wasn’t met that upset her. Perhaps there was blackmailing, there must be something,” further he said.

-Bharat Express