‘Trashy ruminations of a convicted criminal,’ MEA rubbishes reference to PM Modi’s 2017 Israel visit in Epstein email

The Ministry of External Affairs on Saturday (January 31, 2026) dismissed the references made to Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit to Israel in 2017 in an email that is purportedly part of the recently released Epstein Files. The MEA dubbed the reference as the trashy ruminations of a convicted criminal.

“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. 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,” MEA Spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal said.

Earlier, the Congress party had sought to raise the issue of the Prime Minister being named in a purported email that is part of the documents released from the Epstein estate

“That India’s PM could have a proximity to such a disgraced figure raises serious questions of judgment, transparency, and diplomatic propriety. It is now clear that the Prime Minister had a direct unexplained association with Jeffery Epstein whose infamous list of elite clients has wreaked havoc ever since the Epstein files began to be released,” alleged Congress leader Pawan Khera.

The U.S. Department of Justice on Friday (January 30, 2026) (local time) released a major batch of investigative material linked to late financier and convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, making public more than three million pages of records along with over 2,000 videos and around 180,000 images.

Announcing the disclosures at a news conference, Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche said the release fulfils a transparency mandate passed by Congress last year. “Today’s release marks the end of a very comprehensive document identification and review process to ensure transparency to the American people and compliance with the act,” Mr. Blanche said.

Epstein died in a New York jail cell in August 2019, a month after being indicted on federal sex trafficking charges. He had earlier served 13 months in custody in Florida following a controversial plea deal in 2008.