Lok Sabha Leader of the Opposition Rahul Gandhi on Wednesday questioned why industrialist Anil Ambani was not in jail, alleging that his name appears in documents linked to the Epstein case. Speaking during a debate in the Lok Sabha, Gandhi claimed that Ambani’s name figured in what he referred to as the “Epstein Files.” He also brought up Union Minister Hardeep Singh Puri during his remarks.
“There is a businessman Anil Ambani, I want to ask why is he not in jail? The reason is that his name is in the Epstein Files. I would also like to ask Hardeep Puri, who introduced him to Epstein. I know who introduced him, and Hardeep Puri knows who introduced him,” Gandhi said in the House as per ANI reports.
Pressure on Prime Minister
After his speech on the Union Budget, Gandhi repeated his claims while speaking to reporters in Delhi. He said he would authenticate the data and referred to what he described as Department of Justice files naming certain individuals. “I have said that I will authenticate the data. There are Department of Justice files on Epstein files naming Hardeep Puri and Anil Ambani,” he told reporters as per ANI reports.
Gandhi further alleged that in an ongoing case related to the Adani Group, summons had been issued but the Government of India had not responded for 18 months. He claimed there was “direct pressure on the Prime Minister.”
“The main thing is that no PM would do this in a normal situation… Someone would do this only when there is a certain grip on them,” he said, linking his remarks to issues such as data, farmers, energy security and defence.
Government rejects earlier Epstein related claims
Earlier this year, on January 31, the Ministry of External Affairs strongly rejected references to Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s 2017 visit to Israel in an email said to be part of the Epstein-related documents.
MEA spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal dismissed the claims, calling them baseless and trashy. “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,” Jaiswal said.
(With ANI Inputs)