India on Saturday dismissed a reference to the Prime Minister in the latest investigative files related to convicted sex trafficker Jeffrey Epstein released by US authorities, describing it as “little more than trashy ruminations by a convicted criminal”.
External affairs ministry spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal, in a brief statement meant to “clarify certain reports”, said the government had seen reports of an email message from the so-called Epstein files that contained a reference to the Prime Minister and his visit to Israel.
“Beyond the fact of the Prime Minister’s official visit to Israel in July 2017, the rest of the allusions in the email are little more than trashy ruminations by a convicted criminal, which deserve to be dismissed with the utmost contempt,” Jaiswal said.
The clarification came after opposition Congress leader Pawan Khera contended in a social media post that it was a “national shame” that Epstein, a child sex offender and serial rapist, had written about the Prime Minister in an email. Khera also sought a clarification from the government in the matter.
The reference was made in an email that Epstein, who was found dead in his prison cell in 2019, had sent in 2017 to a person who was apparently a senior official in Qatar.
{{/usCountry}}The reference was made in an email that Epstein, who was found dead in his prison cell in 2019, had sent in 2017 to a person who was apparently a senior official in Qatar.
{{/usCountry}}The email was part of investigative files related to Epstein, containing 3.5 million pages and 2,000 videos, released by the US justice department on Friday in response to a law passed by the US Congress.