Trashy ruminations by convicted criminal: MEA on PM's mention in Epstein email

New Delhi, Jan 31 (IANS) India on Friday slammed any reference to Prime Minister Narendra Modi in an email message from the "so-called" Epstein files as "trashy ruminations" by a "convicted criminal", which deserve to be dismissed with the utmost contempt.

The issue cropped up as the US Justice Department released a large batch of files -- encompassing over three million pages of records, 2,000 videos, and 180,000 images -- related to its investigation into financier Jeffrey Epstein.

Jeffrey Epstein, a wealthy US financier, died in a New York jail in 2019 while awaiting trial on federal sex-trafficking charges involving underage girls. His death was officially ruled a suicide.

"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," read a statement issued by Randhir Jaiswal, spokesperson of the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) to "clarify certain reports", Saturday evening.

"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," the MEA statement added.

On Friday, the US Justice Department began releasing millions of records linked to the investigations and prosecutions of Jeffrey Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell, saying it had completed an unprecedented review ordered under a new transparency law signed by President Donald Trump.

Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche told reporters that the department was producing more than three million pages of material, including over 2,000 videos and about 180,000 images, as part of its compliance with the Epstein Files Transparency Act, signed into law on November 19, 2025.

“In total, that means that the department produced approximately 3.5 million pages in compliance with the act,” Blanche said at a news conference at the Justice Department.

Blanche said the review effort involved more than 500 lawyers and professionals across multiple divisions, including the FBI and several U.S. attorney’s offices. He said teams met “twice daily, sometimes more,” for nearly 75 days to complete the work.

The department initially identified more than six million pages as potentially responsive, Blanche said, but released fewer records after applying legal and privacy standards. “We erred on the side of over-collecting,” he said, adding that the final production was smaller because of required exclusions.

--IANS

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