A partner of a private firm that had got the contract to operate and maintain a lakefront near Vadodara where 12 school students and two teachers died in a boat capsize was apprehended from Odisha on Wednesday, police said.

So far, seven of the 19 people named in the FIR are already behind bars, the police have said.

Gopal Shah, a partner in Kotia Projects that was responsible for running and maintaining the Motnath Lake in the Harni area on the outskirts of Vadodara, was apprehended from Titlagarh in Odisha, said Assistant Commissioner of Police (ACP) Manoj Ninama.

The process to bring him from the eastern state to Vadodara is underway and more details on the accused will be shared once he is brought back, Ninama said.

As many as 12 students and two teachers of New Sunrise School on a picnic drowned, while 18 students and two teachers were rescued after an overloaded boat capsized in the Motnath Lake on January 18. The students were on a picnic at the time.

The police have registered a case under sections 304 (culpable homicide not amounting to murder) and 308 (attempt to commit culpable homicide) of the Indian Penal Code against 19 persons in connection with the boat tragedy.

As per the FIR, Kotia Projects was given a contract by the Vadodara Municipal Corporation (VMC) to operate the Harni Lake Zone in 2017.

In its complaint, the VMC had pointed out lapses, including non-maintenance of boats and not keeping the adequate number of life-saving equipment and life jackets, on the part of the contractor.

It was also revealed that only a few students were given life jackets on the day of the incident. Due to overload, the FIR said, the boat first started swaying and then capsized following water ingress from the front side.

According to officials, Kotia Projects had sub-let the contract for boating activities to Dolphin Entertainment, which had no prior experience.

The city crime branch is investigating the case under the supervision of a special investigation team (SIT), which is being led by ACP Ninama.

Seven persons, including four partners of Kotia Projects – Bhimsingh Yadav, Vedprakash Yadav, Rashmikant Prajapati and Bineet Kotia, manager of the firm Shantilal Solanki, and boat operators – Nayan Gohil and Ankit Vasava – are already in custody in connection with the case.

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