Balesh Dhankar, a well-known member of the Indian community in Sydney, has been accused of drugging and raping five women. According to the Sydney Morning Herald, Balesh lured Korean women and targeted them with fake advertisements for a job that required translating Korean to English. Reports said that Balesh had a very specific way of targeting these women. He would lure the women to the bar in Sydney's Hilton, allegedly spike their drink with sleep medication and rape them in his apartment. Many reports also stated that Balesh would film himself raping the women using his mobile phone or a hidden camera.
Balesh is on trial for 13 counts of rape, 17 intimate recordings without consent, six counts of using substances to commit an offence and assault with an act of indecency. According to reports, he had pleaded not guilty and has spent the past four years trying to suppress his name.
The Sydney Morning Herald reported that there were so many videos of Balesh Dhankar in sexual acts on his devices that they asked for a break as they could not ‘stomach it’. According to the police, he was interested in young Korean women and in pornography where women were asleep or unconscious.
The prosecutor in Balesh’s case said that the accused had a “state of mind” to satisfy his particular sexual interest by posing as an interviewer and luring women. The prosecutor further added that Balesh had a “particular tendency” to film Korean and Asian women when they were unconscious. The women who testified against him said that they had felt dizzy after Balesh had taken them to his apartment and offered them food or a drink. However, they could not remember what happened after that.
विदेश में भारत को शर्मसार करते मोदी जी का अनमोल रत्न!
— AAP (@AamAadmiParty) March 17, 2023
BJP नेता #BaleshDhankar ने Australia में Job दिलाने के बहाने कई लड़कियों का किया बलात्कार!
अगर ऑस्ट्रेलिया Police इसे गिरफ़्तार ना करती तो PM Modi इसे भारत बुला कर अवश्य एक बड़े पद से सम्मानित करते। pic.twitter.com/PtaV4k1OVu
With Balesh’s name linked to the Overseas Friends of Bharatiya Janata Party, the Aam Aadmi Party has highlighted the arrest.