NEW DELHI: The Congress on Tuesday alleged that there were 62 email exchanges between union minister Hardeep Singh Puri and convicted American sex offender Jeffrey Epstein and the minister also had 14 meetings with him between 2014 and 2017.
The opposition party also reiterated its demand that Puri must resign immediately.
Addressing a press conference, the Chairman of media and publicity department of Congress Pawan Khera questioned who Puri was representing and what discussion he had with Epstein? Puri has, however, denied all the charges levelled against him by the opposition party.
“Between 2014 and 2017, there were 62 email exchanges between Hardeep Puri and Epstein. Apart from that, what was discussed in the meetings on June 5, 6, 8 and 9, September 19, 23 and 24, and October 9 and 10 in 2014?. Puri wrote 32 emails while Epstein sent him 30 emails. There were 14 meetings, which began soon after Prime Minister Narendra Modi came to office in 2014, and went on till 2017. The question is - what position did Hardeep Puri hold in June 2014, and in what capacity did he meet Epstein?” Khera said.
The Epstein files are thousands of pages of documents related to two criminal investigations into sex trafficking by financier Jeffrey Epstein and his accomplice Ghislaine Maxwell, including travel logs, recordings, and emails, which have been a topic of conversation since Epstein died in custody in 2019.
Citing a recent interview of Puri, Khera said that the BJP leader spoke many “lies”.
“Why was Hardeep Puri sharing government policies with Epstein in his capacity as an ordinary citizen? He should first resign and then clarify this matter. Hardeep Puri has proven himself wrong by telling one lie after another in his interview. Now the question is, who is Hardeep Puri trying to protect by telling so many lies?” he added.
The Congress leader also criticised the Centre referring to Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates’ scheduled participation at the ongoing AI Impact Summit. “Government sources are saying Bill Gates will not come to the AI Summit, while Bill Gates himself is saying that I will come to the summit and deliver a speech,” Khera said.
