Epstein’s contact Puri liaised with Prabhakaran for the 1987 accord View(s):A former Indian Foreign Service officer and now India’s Petroleum and Natural Gas Minister, Hardeep Singh Puri, who is in the middle of a political storm after his name figured prominently in the Epstein files, is no stranger to Sri Lankans. Mr Puri, who served as the First Secretary (Political) at the Indian High Commission in Colombo from 1984 to 1988, was one of the main actors directly involved in the negotiations around the Indo-Lanka Peace Accord of 1987. He was tasked with negotiating the accord with LTTE leader V. Prabkharan, as revealed by the then Indian High Commissioner in Colombo, J.N. According to foreign media reports, in the email exchanges between Mr Puri and the convicted sex offender Jeffery Epstein that began in June 2014, Epstein wrote to Mr Puri about Reid Hoffman, co-founder of LinkedIn, to arrange a visit by Mr Hoffman to India. Following an exchange of emails, Mr Puri wrote a detailed pitch for investment opportunities in India to Epstein and Hoffman, laying out economic plans in India under the newly elected Modi government.

Source: Sunday Times February 15, 2026 01:48 UTC