India, Feb. 8 -- Tibetan spiritual leader, the Dalai Lama, on Sunday categorically denied media reports linking him to convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.

The controversy surfaced after Chinese state-run news channel CGTN, citing the U.S. Department of Justice (DoJ) website, reported that the Dalai Lama's name appeared 169 times in the recently released Epstein files.

According to CGTN, his name featured in multiple personal emails and in the index of a book titled "Massage for Dummies," which was included as a scanned document in earlier file releases.

One email, dated October 21, 2012, allegedly sent to Epstein by a redacted sender, stated that the individual wished to attend an event "on island that dalai lama is coming." Epstei...