Balesh Dhankhar, an Indian-origin man linked to the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in Australia, has been sentenced to 40 years in prison by a Sydney court for the “elaborately executed, manipulative and highly predatory” rapes of five Korean women.
Dhankhar, the founder of the Australian wing of the Overseas Friends of BJP—an official support group of the Bharatiya Janata Party—was convicted of 39 offences. These included 13 counts of rape, six counts of administering an intoxicating substance, 17 counts of recording intimate videos without consent, and three counts of indecent assault. A Sydney jury found him guilty on all charges in April 2023, reported 9News.
Sentencing him on Friday, District Court Judge Michael King stated that he could find no comparable case in the state of New South Wales. “This was an egregious sequence of planned predatory conduct against five unrelated young and vulnerable women over a significant period,” King observed.
Dhankhar lured his victims using fake job advertisements for Korean-to-English translation work. He arranged to meet them at a bar in Sydney’s Hilton Hotel, where he drugged and raped them—either at the hotel or his nearby apartment. Police later uncovered extensive video evidence of his crimes, along with date-rape drugs and a hidden recording device at his home. The court also noted that Dhankhar had meticulously documented his crimes, maintaining a spreadsheet with details of his victims and assessments of their vulnerability.
Arriving in Australia as a student in 2006, Dhankhar became a prominent figure in the Indian-Australian community. He served as a spokesperson for the Hindu Council of Australia and had professional associations with organisations such as the ABC, British American Tobacco, Toyota, and Sydney Trains.
His connections to the BJP came under scrutiny following his conviction. Reports indicate that the Overseas Friends of BJP played a role in organising Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s reception in Sydney in 2014. The group has stated that Dhankhar resigned in 2018—the year of his arrest.
 in Australia, has been sentenced to 40 years in prison by a Sydney court for the “elaborately executed, manipulative and highly predatory” rapes of five Korean women.){kind=link}