India dismisses PM Modi's Israel visit mention in Epstein files

India on Friday rejected any suggestion of impropriety after Prime Minister Narendra Modi's name surfaced in a reference contained in newly released United States Justice Department files linked to financier and convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. "We have seen reports of an email message from the so-called Epstein files that has a reference to the Prime Minister and his visit to Israel," MEA spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal. "Beyond the fact of the Prime Minister's official visit to Israel in July 2017, the rest of the allusions in the email are little more than trashy ruminations by a convicted criminal, which deserve to be dismissed with the utmost contempt."

PM Modi's visit to Israel in July 2017 marked the first time an Indian Prime Minister set foot in the country since India and Israel established full diplomatic relations in 1992. The comment came hours after the US Department of Justice released a vast new tranche of records from its investigative files on Epstein, resuming disclosures under a law designed to shed light on what the government knew about the financier's sexual abuse of young girls and his interactions with wealthy and influential figures.