Summary:
- Indian-origin community leader Balesh Dhankhar has been sentenced to 40 years in prison by an Australian court for drugging and raping five South Korean women in Sydney.
- Dhankhar used fake job advertisements to lure victims, later drugging and assaulting them, with evidence showing he filmed the crimes and ranked applicants based on vulnerability.
- Judge Michael King condemned the crimes as “premeditated, elaborately executed, manipulative, and highly predatory,” highlighting the contrast between Dhankhar’s public persona and his predatory behavior.
- Dhankhar, a former IT consultant and prominent figure in the Indian-Australian community, will serve a non-parole period of 30 years, with his sentence expiring in 2053.
An Australian court has sentenced Indian-origin community leader Balesh Dhankhar to 40 years in prison for the drugging and rape of five South Korean women in Sydney. The Downing Centre District Court delivered the verdict on Friday, March 7, with a non-parole period of 30 years, according to a report by Australia Today. Dhankhar, aged 43, was found guilty of 39 offences, including 13 counts of rape, following a jury trial in 2023.
Dhankhar, a former IT consultant, used fake job advertisements to lure South Korean women aged between 21 and 27. He would drug and assault them in or near his home in Sydney. Evidence presented during the trial revealed that he filmed the assaults for his sexual gratification and maintained a spreadsheet ranking applicants of his fake job postings based on appearance, intelligence, and vulnerability.
District Court Judge Michael King condemned Dhankhar’s actions as “premeditated, elaborately executed, manipulative, and highly predatory.” The judge described the crimes as an “egregious sequence of planned predatory conduct” against vulnerable women over a significant period. The court heard that the victims were either unconscious or severely impaired during the attacks.
Dhankhar’s crimes came to light after his fifth victim reported him in October 2018. A subsequent police raid on his Sydney central business district apartment uncovered date-rape drugs and a video recorder disguised as a clock radio. Despite overwhelming evidence, Dhankhar has denied drugging the women or that the encounters were non-consensual. He claimed there was a “difference in how I interpret consent, to how the law sees consent.”
Until his arrest in 2018, Dhankhar was regarded as a prominent figure within the Indian-Australian community. He had founded a satellite group of India’s BJP and served as a spokesman for the Hindu Council of Australia. Professionally, he worked as a data visualization consultant for major corporations such as ABC, British American Tobacco, Toyota, and Sydney Trains. Dhankhar had moved to Australia as a student in 2006.
Judge King highlighted the stark contrast between Dhankhar’s public image as a community leader and his predatory behavior, stating that his respectable facade was “entirely inconsistent” with his criminal actions. Dhankhar displayed no emotion as the sentence was handed down.
With his non-parole period set to expire in April 2053, Dhankhar will be 83 years old when his full sentence concludes.
