Hyderabad, Oct. 21 -- The United States Justice Department has released photos of Union Minister of Petroleum and Natural Gas Hardeep Singh Puri with late American financier and convicted paedophile Jeffrey Epstein.

The images dates back to 2014, when Puri was part of the International Peace Institute (IPI) delegation.

Hardeep Singh Puri had acknowledged that he had met Epstein only "on a few occasions between 2010-2014 as part of the delegation."

During the 2026-2027 Union Budget Session, Leader of Opposition in Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi charged at Puri, saying the minister and industrialist Anil Ambani's names have appeared several times in the Epstein Files, released by the United States Department of Justice on January 30.

"You have ...