THE Congress on Tuesday accused Union Minister Hardeep Puri of “lying” on the ‘Epstein files’ issue, and asked the BJP leader to come clean on the “62 email exchanges” and “14 meetings” he had with convicted American sex offender Jeffrey Epstein between 2014 and 2017. The Opposition party also reiterated its demand that Puri must resign immediately. Puri has, however, denied all the charges levelled at 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?” Congress’ media and publicity department head, Pawan Khera, asked at a press conference here.

 

“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 asked. 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 the BJP leader spoke many “lies”.