Union Minister Hardeep Singh Puri on Wednesday said that the charges made by Rahul Gandhi linking him to Epstein Files were "baseless."
In a press briefing, Puri claimed that he had met Epstein "on a few occasions (and) as part of a delegation" and only exchanged one email with him.
He also clarified that his interactions with Epstein were part of an International Peace Institute (IPI) delegation. He also said that he had nothing to do with the charges against the late American financier.
"There are two kinds of leaders: those who assume responsibility in the political system and dedicate their lives to social service, transforming the country, and those who devote their lives and ensure that, during their lifetime, the country moves from the tenth largest economy to the third largest."
"And then there are other leaders who occasionally come to the country, and when they come to the Parliament, they walk out of the House when someone gives them a substantive reply and doesn't listen to them. He left after his own speech today..," Puri said referring to Rahul Gandhi's speech on Parliament today.
The minister said the US Department of Justice has so far released over 3 million documents in connection with the case and all the information is in the public domain.
"...Epstein Files, the Yuva Neta should know, are about wrongdoing, criminal offences. The Epstein Files are about charges that he had an island where he used to take people to indulge their sexual fantasies, charges of paedophilia, there are victims of this. Those victims have brought cases against people in authority. My interaction had nothing to do with that..." he clarified.
(With inputs from ANI)