Shillong, April 25: An Indian origin man in Australia was found guilty of drugging, raping, and recording five Korean women while doing so.
Balesh Dhankhar, a political activist from the Indian diaspora in Australia, was on trial for 39 offences, including 13 counts of rape that were allegedly committed between January and October 2018. On Monday, a jury at Sydney’s District Court found him guilty of all charges.
As per the reports, the 43-year-old data expert cried in court when the jury foreman answered “guilty” to each of the 39 allegations brought against him. Later this year, he will receive a punishment after appearing in court once more in May.
The jury was informed that Dhankhar used a “very specific modus operandi” to trap the women, which included creating a false job advertising seeking Korean translators. Before bringing the women under false pretences to his studio apartment in Sydney’s central business district, he met them in the same hotel, café and Korean restaurant.
According to the prosecution, Dhankhar added sleeping pills like Stilnox or the infamous date-rape drug Rohypnol to glasses of wine and other beverages.
Dhankhar recorded the rapes with a camera hidden in his alarm clock by his bed or on his mobile, both of which the police found.
In October 2018, when Dhankhar’s flat was searched by authorities, they found 47 tapes showing him engaging in sexual activity with women, some of whom were unconscious while others struggled and groaned as though in pain.
The victim’s name was listed next to each folder in which the rape videos were arranged.
