Between New York and New Delhi: A passenger accused of having urinated on his neighbor on the plane

A former senior executive at US bank Wells Fargo was released on bail on Tuesday after spending several weeks in jail for allegedly urinating on his neighbor on an Air India flight. Shankart Mishra, then vice president of the banking giant for its activities in India, was arrested in January. The 34-year-old man is accused of having urinated, while he was drunk, on a 72-year-old woman installed in business class during a flight on November 26 between New York and New Delhi.

This incident was dubbed “pipigate” by local media. A court in India’s capital has ordered Mr Mishra released on 100,000 rupees ($1,200) bail, contradicting a lower court’s ruling which called the act “completely disgusting and repugnant”.

Mr Mishra denied the charges against him and his lawyer told the court that the woman, an Indian classical dancer, had actually urinated on herself. The respondent was banned from flying on Air India for four months and immediately sacked by Wells Fargo when the allegations against him became public.

The Indian company Air India was fined 37,000 dollars (about 34,000 euros) for the management of this incident. India’s civil aviation regulator has also imposed a fine of 300,000 rupees (about 3,400 euros) on Air India’s director of in-flight services. The pilot of the flight meanwhile saw his license suspended for three months for having “failed in his duty” to ensure safety and discipline in the aircraft.