"Tried to spread falsehoods": BJP accuses Congress of altering Epstein mail with PM Modi reference

New Delhi [India], January 31 : BJP MP Sambit Patra on Saturday accused the Congress of spreading falsehoods by allegedly editing an email linked to the Jeffrey Epstein files to falsely suggest that Prime Minister Narendra Modi had taken advice from the disgraced financier.
Speaking to ANI here, Patra said the Congress had carried out what he described as a "fraudulent act" by manipulating the contents of an email attributed to Epstein.
"I want to expose the kind of tweet that has been made by Congress about Prime Minister Modi ji - a fraudulent tweet. As you all know, there's a person named Jeffrey Epstein, after whom the Epstein Files are named. Those Epstein Files were revealed. Jeffrey Epstein was a child trafficker, a sex offender, a person with no credibility, who was ultimately convicted and committed suicide by hanging himself," he said.
Patra alleged that Congress had deliberately added the words "his advice" to an email where such wording was not present, to create the impression that Prime Minister Modi had taken advice from Epstein.
"An email from this person, Jeffrey Epstein, where he is talking to someone else - both individuals are of questionable character, and we don't know much about them - that email has been edited by the Congress party. In that email, where the word 'his' is not present, the Congress party has tried to add 'his advice,' making it appear as if Prime Minister Narendra Modi ji took advice from Jeffrey Epstein. It's not even in the email, but the Congress party has edited it, committed fraud, and added the word 'his.' This is the true face of the Congress party," he said.
He went on to accuse Congress of historically compromising India's national interests.
"This is the same Congress party whose entire Gandhi family was sitting in a tent with China, the enemy of our country, during the Doklam standoff, plotting against India. This is the same Congress party whose mother and son, Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi, went to China and signed secret documents and MOUs. There will be consequences," Patra said.
Patra warned that the Congress's actions would not go unnoticed and that such actions would have consequences.
"Fraud has consequences. You have tried to spread falsehoods and misleading information, and the way you have twisted and distorted facts, the people of India will give you an answer," Patra added.
The BJP's response comes after 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.
Congress leader Pawan Khera had claimed that the Prime Minister's alleged proximity to Epstein raised concerns of judgment and transparency.
"It is a matter of national shame that Jeffery Epstein - a convicted human trafficker, child sex offender and serial rapist from the USA - wrote that the Prime Minister Narendra Modi took his "advice and danced and sang in Israel for the benefit of the US president...That India's PM could have a proximity to such a disgraced figure raises serious questions of judgment, transparency, and diplomatic propriety." alleged Congress leader Pawan Khera in a post on X.
Meanwhile, the Ministry of External Affairs on Saturday 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.
The US Department of Justice on Friday (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.