National/Alive News: Two photographs of Union Petroleum Minister Hardeep Singh Puri with convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein have gone viral, prompting fresh questions from opposition leaders. Congress spokesperson Supriya Shrinate questioned the pictures, asking how they fit with Puri’s claim that he never met Epstein alone. Trinamool Congress MP Mahua Moitra also asked where the other delegation members were in the photographs.
In February, Puri rejected allegations raised by Rahul Gandhi in Parliament over the Epstein files. He said his meetings with Epstein took place in a professional capacity after he left his position as India’s ambassador to the United Nations and before joining the Union Cabinet in 2017.
Puri said he had met Epstein as part of a delegation associated with the International Peace Institute (IPI). He maintained that the meetings had no connection with Epstein’s criminal activities and said he did not initially know who Epstein was.
Epstein-related documents released by US authorities reportedly included emails mentioning Puri and meetings in 2015, 2016 and 2017. The correspondence also referred to an email exchange involving an “exotic island.”
Epstein was convicted of soliciting sex from a minor in 2008 and arrested on federal sex-trafficking charges in 2019. He died in custody before trial. His associate Ghislaine Maxwell was convicted in 2021 for helping recruit and abuse underage girls.
The photographs have renewed political questions, but appearing in photographs or correspondence does not by itself establish involvement in Epstein’s crimes.
