When the rescue operations were going on on January 18, Paresh Shah called Binit Kotia and asked him to leave, and thereafter, all the partners “planned their escape” instead of “taking moral responsibility”, as per the police’s remand application.

“Paresh Shah called Binit Kotia over the phone and told him that the incident was grave and he was ‘leaving’ and so should Kotia. He also told Kotia to switch off his phone. Thereafter, Kotia called Gopal Shah and informed him about the incident and all the accused switched off their phones and escaped instead of remaining present at the spot and accepting their moral responsibility,” the application states.

Police have also come across blank letterheads of the Khambhat Municipality from the petrol pump office of Paresh Shah. In the remand application, police said, “The accused have been misleading investigators about the financial transactions, claiming that the details are in the mobile phones of Gopal Shah and Paresh Shah and their mobile phones are yet to be recovered… During the search at the petrol pump office of Paresh Shah, documents from Khambhat Municipality were recovered. It is a matter of investigation whether these documents were misused in the current contract or to create any false evidence. The other accused have also said that Paresh Shah would ‘liaison’ in matters of getting the permissions required for running boats and amusement rides.”

During the proceedings of the court, as the eight days of police custody of Gopal Shah and Paresh Shah ended, police sought an extension of custody to probe the financial transactions between the accused partners who have claimed that the details of finances are “stored in their mobile phones” that are yet to be recovered.
The remand application also states that at the time of the incident, Paresh Shah and his son Vatsal, who is yet to be apprehended, were present at the spot but “rushed to the petrol pump office to search for some documents”. Officials are seeking details of the whereabouts of family members of Paresh Shah– wife Nutan, and daughter Vaishakhi — apart from son Vatsal. They are allegedly hiding to evade arrest in the case.

Even as the partnership firm is named M/s Kotia Projects, the Kotia family had gradually relinquished its shares with their stake being reduced to 20 per cent, the court has been told. Police have stated that Kotia said he was “unaware” of the transactions and the accused have remained uncooperative in the investigations. The remand application also states that police have to establish if there was a previous link between the Shahs and the Kotia family and if the Kotias were “assisted” in getting the work order from the Vadodara Municipal Corporation for the redevelopment of the lake in 2017, despite having no prior experience.

In the remand application, police have also stated that it is investigating if “other financial investors” also provided funds to partners of M/s Kotia Project to set up the Lake Zone and amusement park as well as financial transaction details of the daily activities of the lake zone for which Advocate Hitesh Desai, who is appearing for the families of the deceased students said, “The court had raised a question about the composition of the partnership firm M/s Kotia Project in 2017 when it signed the MoU with VMC. We informed the court and clarified that all the present accused joined as partners in February 2017 and the MoU was executed in July 2017.”

Meanwhile, Vadodara District Collector AB Gor, who is heading the magisterial inquiry ordered by Chief Minister Bhupendra Patel in the capsize incident, has sought an extension of five days to submit the report as “certain documents” are awaited. Sources said that Gor, who has been transferred as Officer on Special Duty to the Chief Minister, has decided to complete the magisterial inquiry in the case before handing over charge of the Vadodara District Magistrate and Collector to his successor BA Shah.