Sunil Patil, whose name cropped up in corruption allegations against NCB officers, has admitted that he knew Sam D'souza, who is facing allegations of extortion in the drugs-on-cruise case, and later came in contact with Kiran Gosavi, an Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) witness in the case.
However, he has denied allegations of being a 'mastermind in the drugs-on-cruise conspiracy' in which Shah Rukh Khan's son Aryan Khan was arrested.
"I did not know Kiran Gosavi, but I knew Sam D'souza because he had asked for some money a few days back. He had told me that he needs to give money to NCB to get his name out of one case. Later, he told me that he has paid Rs 25 lakhs to NCB and his name is now out of that case. So I was aware that he knew people in NCB," Patil told ANI on Sunday.
He further alleged that two BJP workers in Madhya Pradesh had given the tip on the cruise party to NCB.
Patil said, "A few days before the cruise raid took place, I got a call from Neeraj Yadav and Dhaval Bhanusali, who are BJP workers from Madhya Pradesh, saying that they have got a tip about the Cordelia cruise ship party, and they asked for some contact in NCB. I told them that I have no contacts in NCB and I am not a tipper of NCB, but as I knew Sam D'souza. Thus, I gave Neeraj Yadav, Dhaval Bhanushali and Kiran Gosavi the contact details of Sam D'souza." Patil also alleged that on October 2, the night NCB conducted a raid on the cruise off the Mumbai coast, Neeraj Yadav, Dhaval Bhanushali and Kiran Gosavi were present around the NCB office.
"In the early hours of October 3 at around 2.30 am, Kiran Gosavi sent me a selfie with Aryan Khan and told me that Aryan Khan has been arrested. In the morning around 8.30 am, Sam D'souza told me that a deal has been struck of Rs 50 lakh and Kiran Gosavi has sent Prabhakar Sail (Goasavi's bodyguard) to collect the money," he said.
"I was in Ahmedabad from October 1-4," Patil added.
Patil further claimed that he has chat records of Prabhakar Sail, in which he accepts that he is associated with Kiran Gosavi and was assigned the job of collecting the money.
"A day after the raid at around 2:30 pm, I got a call from Sam D'souza that the deal has failed and now Pooja Dadlani, Shah Rukh Khan's manager, has asked for the money to be returned. So I called Kiran Gosavi and I had a verbal altercation with him and I asked him to return the money if the work is not done," he said.
Patil also said that he avoided getting trapped in the mess, as he was already facing financial problems.
"I did not want to be trapped in all this as I already had financial problems. I was in Ahmedabad all this while and after Prabhakar Sail gave his statement, I was not allowed to leave Ahmedabad. I was called to Delhi 3-4 days back and Dhaval Bhanushali and Neeraj Yadav beat me up and asked me to give a statement on camera but I refused and somehow fled from there and came here (Mumbai)," he said.
Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Mohit Kamboj was the first to bring up Sunil Patil's name in the media alleging that he is closely associated with Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) leaders and conspired the drugs-on-cruise case.
Kombaj had levelled allegations against Patil saying that he contacted Sam D'souza to connect Kiran Gosavi with NCB officers to furnish leads over the cruise party before the raids were conducted.
Earlier, Sam D'souza in a video message had reiterated the allegations of the Kamboj claiming that Patil sent Kiran Gosavi to furnish leads about the cruise party.
