The former chief of ‘overseas friends of BJP’, Balesh Dhankhar, and a member of the Indian community in Australia, was found guilty of raping five Korean women in Sydney after drugging them, Sydney Morning Herald newspaper reported.
The report described him as “one of the worst rapists” in the city’s recent history.
A District Court jury in Sydney’s Downing Centre on Monday found the “politically connected predator” lured five Korean women into a web of lies, paralysed them with drugs and hoarded trophies of his callous assaults, the newspaper reported.
It also reported that he was the former chief of the ‘overseas friends of the BJP’ in Australia.
Dhankhar also recorded his sexual assaults using a camera hidden in his bedside alarm clock and on his phone, it said. “Balesh Dhankhar is one of the worst rapists in Sydney’s recent history,” it said.
Dhankhar, a data expert, cried on Monday as the jury foreman replied “guilty” to each of the 39 charges against him.
He asked to remain on bail but Judge Michael King refused before Dhankhar was handcuffed and led away by officers.
Dhankhar, 43, will face court again in May and will be sentenced later in the year, the report said.
Pertinently, Dhankhar was one of the organizers of Modi’s community rally in Sydney and subsequently visited India to meet the Indian PM. He also hosted Subramanian Swamy and Sambit Patra.
