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Journalism of Courage
A Vadodara court on Thursday sent Dipen and Dharmil Shah, two partners of Kotia Projects, to six-day Special Investigation Team (SIT) custody in connection to the January 18 Harni boat capsize incident in which 12 students and two teachers died.
The two partners of Kotia Projects – the company that was given the contract by Vadodara Municipal Corporation to develop and run Lake Zone at Motnath Lake in Harni – were arrested on Wednesday.
The SIT also produced before court Nilesh Jain and Alpesh Bhatt, who were responsible for running the boating facility at Lake Zone. They were sent to judicial custody at the end of their SIT remand of 14 days.
The SIT had sought a 10-day remand of the accused stating that crucial information on the financial transactions between partners and their liabilities were needed to be probed.
Vadodara District Government Pleader Anil Desai said, “The court remanded Dipen Shah and Dharmil Shah in police custody until February 13. The police will investigate their role in the partnership, the accounts pertaining to their share, how they submitted accounts to each other… They all had serious responsibility towards ensuring that safety protocols were followed and so the liability is also grave and equal on each one of them.”
Meanwhile, the SIT on Thursday said that police teams are looking for four more accused – Kotia Projects partner Dharmin Bathani, as well as wife Nutan, son Vatsal and daughter Vaishakhi of another partner, Paresh Shah, who has been arrested.
