Shankar Mishra was arrested weeks after the incident.
A sacked banking executive, accused of urinating on a woman on an Air India flight seven weeks ago in an incident that stoked nationwide outrage, has told a Delhi court that he did not do so and that it was his elderly co-passenger who urinated on herself.
The stunning claim by Shankar Mishra comes in response to a notice by the sessions court on an application by the Delhi Police requesting custody for questioning him. He had been sent to 14-day judicial remand on Saturday by a court that turned down the police's request for custody.
His request for bail, however, was turned down four days later by a judge, who called the accusations against him "utterly disgusting and repulsive".
"The alleged act in itself is sufficient to outrage the modesty of any woman. The egregious conduct of the accused has shocked the civic consciousness and needs to be deprecated," the judge said on Wednesday, chiding him for being at large until a non-bailable warrant was issued.
During the bail hearing, Mishra's lawyers had made no reference to his latest claim of not urinating on the woman, arguing that his act "was not driven by sexual desire nor aimed at outraging the complainant's modesty".
At the hearing, the woman who has complained against Mishra said she was being threatened by those close to the accused.
"I'm regularly receiving messages, threatening me. The accused's father sent me a message and said 'karma will hit you' and then deleted the message. They're sending me messages and deleting them. This needs to stop," her lawyers said.
Mishra was arrested last week after the accusations came to light more than a month after the incident in late November. He had been on the run from authorities for days and had been sacked by US banking giant Wells Fargo.
Mishra was allegedly drunk during the journey from New York to New Delhi on November 26 when he allegedly unzipped his pants and urinated on the 72-year-old woman seated in business class.
The woman said she was coerced by the crew into accepting an apology from the man and later complained to N Chandrasekaran, chairperson of the Tata Group, which owns Air India.
The airline said it had failed to properly address the incident and was reviewing its policy on serving alcohol during flights.
"Air India acknowledges that it could have handled these matters better, both in the air and on the ground, and is committed to taking action," Chief Executive Campbell Wilson said in a statement.
The airline, recently bought by the Tata Group conglomerate after decades under state control, has faced severe criticism for its handling of the woman's complaint.
India's aviation regulator also admonished its management for not reporting the incident at the time and warned airlines of taking strict action against passengers behaving inappropriately.