Congress MP Priyanka Gandhi Vadra has demanded the resignation of Union Petroleum Minister Hardeep Puri over his links to Jeffrey Epstein as revealed in recent files. She alleged that Puri corresponded with Epstein even after public allegations against him surfaced. Documents released by the US Department of Justice mention email exchanges between them in 2014-15.
Union Petroleum Minister Hardeep Puri had stated that he met Jeffrey Epstein “three or four times”. Congress MP and party general secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra said on Thursday that the Cabinet Minister should resign.
Speaking to The Indian Express, Priyanka alleged that Puri had corresponded with Epstein after the allegations against him were made public. Referring to the documents, she told The Indian Express, “In my opinion, he should resign.” Epstein had pleaded guilty and was convicted in 2008 on prostitution charges, including soliciting a minor girl. He was arrested again in 2019 on federal charges of sex trafficking of minors. His 2019 death in a Manhattan jail cell, awaiting trial, was ruled a suicide.
The fresh tranche of documents released by the US Department of Justice on January 30 show that Puri exchanged emails with Epstein in 2014-15. Hitting back at Leader of Opposition Rahul Gandhi for mentioning his name in connection with the Epstein files, Puri denied any wrongdoing, saying he had met Epstein three or four times in eight years while living in New York—first as India’s Permanent Representative to the UN from 2009-13 and then working at the International Peace Institute’s Independent Commission on Multilateralism after his retirement from the IFS in 2013 until he became a Cabinet minister in 2017.
At the press conference, Puri had said: “There are references to only three or four meetings, and all my interactions were entirely professional, related to the Independent Commission on Multilateralism and other international work.”
