A photograph of Union Petroleum Minister Hardeep Singh Puri with convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, released by the US Department of Justice, has triggered a fresh political row in India. The Hardeep Singh Puri Epstein photo surfaced on Tuesday, coinciding with US Secretary of State Marco Rubio’s visit to Mumbai, and opposition leaders seized on the timing.
Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi questioned the timing of the release on Wednesday in a post on X. “Rubio goes to Mumbai. The U.S. DOJ releases a picture of Epstein and Puri,” Gandhi wrote, asking “which anti-national traitor” the United States was trying to blackmail. He addressed the post to BJP and RSS workers.
The Hardeep Singh Puri Epstein photo is the latest development in a controversy that began in February, when Gandhi first raised Puri’s name in the Lok Sabha in connection with the Epstein files.
What the Hardeep Singh Puri Epstein photo shows
The photograph was part of a batch of Epstein-related material released by the US Department of Justice. Puri’s office said on Wednesday that the minister could not recall which meeting the circulated photograph was from, PTI reported.
Shiv Sena (UBT) leader Sanjay Raut said the Hardeep Singh Puri Epstein photo showed the two together with glasses and other items in front of them, and questioned Puri’s earlier statements about his interactions with Epstein. “This is only the beginning; much more is yet to come to light,” Raut said, adding that the matter was being discussed across the country.
Congress leader Srinivas BV also linked the release to the US Secretary of State’s landing in Mumbai and the ongoing discussions around the India-US trade deal.
Rahul Gandhi questions the Hardeep Singh Puri Epstein photo release
Gandhi’s attack centred on why the Hardeep Singh Puri Epstein photo was released when it was. “Who’s U.S. blackmailing?” he asked in his post, framing the release as pressure on the government during a high-profile diplomatic visit.
Trinamool Congress MP Mahua Moitra also targeted Puri, referring to the minister’s earlier statement that he had met Epstein three or four times as part of official delegations. Moitra suggested the photograph sat uneasily with those earlier remarks.
The Hardeep Singh Puri Epstein photo has revived questions the minister thought he had answered in February, when he held a press conference in Delhi to respond to Gandhi’s original charges.
What Puri has said about his Epstein meetings
Puri has said he met Epstein “three or maximum four” times as part of delegations between 2009 and 2017, and that he exchanged one email with him. He told the Delhi press conference that he was a member of the International Peace Institute, which had been asked to review whether the United Nations was fit for purpose on its 75th anniversary, and that he had no independent meetings with Epstein.
“The allegations against Epstein are about sexual favour, they are about paedophilia, about other wrongdoings… I have nothing to do with that,” Puri said at the time. He also said Prime Minister Narendra Modi had “no connection” with the Epstein files and called the claims baseless.
Emails released earlier by the US authorities, however, show correspondence between the two running from June 2014 to June 2017. They record at least three meetings at Epstein’s Manhattan townhouse, on February 4, 2015, January 6, 2016 and May 19, 2017. The exchanges include Epstein’s introduction of Puri to LinkedIn co-founder Reid Hoffman, a request for help with a visa for an Epstein aide, and a December 2014 message in which Puri asked to be told when Epstein was back from his “exotic island”. Puri has said the phrase was an expression he uses. The correspondence runs longer than the period Puri described, and the Hardeep Singh Puri Epstein photo adds a visual record to the paper trail.
Congress leader Pawan Khera has alleged that Puri met Epstein 14 times between 2014 and 2017. Puri has not accepted this claim.
Epstein pleaded guilty in Florida in 2008 to soliciting prostitution from a minor. He was arrested again in 2019 on sex-trafficking charges and died in custody that August. Several people named in the files have not been accused of any wrongdoing, and no such allegation has been made against Puri.
The opposition is unlikely to let the matter rest. With the Hardeep Singh Puri Epstein photo now public, Gandhi and other leaders have said more material from the files could surface in the coming days.