The Indian government has dismissed claims found in the “Epstein documents” suggesting Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi “danced” to please then-US President Donald Trump during a visit to Israel in 2017.
In a statement issued on Saturday, Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal clarified that PM Modi’s visit to Israel in July 2017 was an “entirely official and diplomatic tour.”
He described the inclusion of the Prime Minister’s name in the files as an “anti-India conspiracy” and the “tasteless imagination of a convicted criminal.”
The controversy follows the release of approximately three million pages of documents by the US Department of Justice linked to the notorious criminal Jeffrey Epstein, who was convicted of sex offences and money laundering.
The files, released under new transparency laws, contain email exchanges involving various influential world figures.
One email from July 2017 claimed that PM Modi sought “favours” from the US president during his Israel trip and, in return, “performed a song and dance to please Trump.” Epstein further alleged that the two leaders had met several weeks prior to the Israel visit.
Statement by the Official Spokesperson to clarify certain reports:
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… pic.twitter.com/ZOZSwE1AZA
— Randhir Jaiswal (@MEAIndia) January 31, 2026
The MEA responded swiftly to the subsequent backlash in India, asserting that the comments in the alleged emails are “completely baseless” and lack credibility. Jaiswal stated that such claims should be dismissed with “utter contempt.”
In a video message, he added that the information has not been verified by any official US source and that the government’s firm stance was necessary to prevent the spread of misinformation damaging to India’s honour.
The documents also mention Indian filmmaker Mira Nair, whose son, Zohran Mamdani, is the newly elected Mayor of New York.
An email suggests that Ghislaine Maxwell, Epstein’s manager who was convicted of sex trafficking in 2021, hosted a “success party” for Nair’s film Amelia in 2009.
The documents claim Nair attended the event alongside figures such as Bill Clinton and Jeff Bezos, and that “unethical activities” occurred there.
Despite the government’s denial, the opposition Congress party has raised questions.
Rajya Sabha MP Jairam Ramesh noted on social media that the Prime Minister’s name appears multiple times in the latest US documents, adding that “many questions remain unanswered” despite the spokesperson’s reaction.
Jeffrey Epstein committed suicide in a New York prison in August 2019 while awaiting trial for sex trafficking. While US authorities state the files were released following a lengthy review, international debate remains over the reliability of the information contained within the massive cache.
