Balesh Dhankhar allegedly drugged and raped five young women
A former ABC contractor is accused of luring five young Korean women with a fake job posting, then drugging and raping them on a camera hidden in a clock.
Balesh Dhankhar is on trial for 39 charges, including 13 rapes allegedly committed between January and October 2018.
A jury heard he had a “very specific modus operandi” for ensnaring the women – using the same hotel, cafe and Korean restaurant in nearly all of the rapes.
Prosecutors alleged that he spiked glasses of wine and other beverages with tablets of the sleep aid Stilnox or the notorious rape drug rohypnol.
Balesh Dhankhar is accused of luring five young Korean women with a fake job offer before drugging and raping them on camera hidden inside a clock.
A jury heard he had a “very specific modus operandi” for framing and raping the women – using the same hotel, café and Korean restaurant in nearly all of the rapes
When they were unconscious, he allegedly raped them several times in his studio apartment in the World Square complex in the Sydney CBD.
Dhankhar is said to have recorded the rapes with a camera hidden in a clock he bought on eBay, or on his mobile phone, which were recovered by police.
A detailed spreadsheet discovered by police reportedly contained coded notes on each of his victims, with a column labeled “action” describing how far the sexual activity went — those he’s accused of raping were on’ fourth base’.
He was arrested on October 21, 2018, after the fifth woman allegedly woke up while he was raping her, and sent messages to a friend while hiding in the bathroom.
Dhankhar pleaded not guilty, claiming that all five women agreed to have sex and be filmed, and that he is in the middle of a lengthy trial in NSW District Court.
He has fought the charges for the past more than four years, unsuccessfully trying to have his name expunged.
The lead data visualization consultant worked for Sydney Trains during all of the alleged rapes, and was hired by Pfizer and the ABC on one-year contracts while out on bail from 2019 to 2021.
He is a prominent member of the Indian community in Australia and is the founder and chairman of the OFBJP – an Australian support group for the ruling party of India.
The fourth of his alleged victims courageously told her story in court on Wednesday, claiming she woke up naked on his bed while being raped.
“He kept doing it when I woke up and I said can you stop, I thought we were just friends,” she told the court.
“I remember he started crying and telling him I wanted to go home… he tried to calm me down ‘it’s okay don’t cry, I’m fine…'”
Dhankhar is said to have recorded the rapes with a camera hidden in a clock he bought on eBay, or on his mobile phone, which were recovered by police.
The court heard that Dhankhar set up a fake company called The Asia Partnership, named after a real company he worked for, but without their knowledge.
He posted job openings on Gumtree for a Korean-English translator in late 2017 and through 2018 to lure the women in their mid-twenties.
The woman, who cannot be named, responded to the ad a day after arriving in Australia on Oct. 8, 2018, and met Dhankhar at the Hilton three days later.
She said he asked her out to dinner and she declined, but met him in a café the next day, where he gave her a document to translate.
This time, she accepted his dinner invitation and they went to Koibito, a nearby Korean restaurant, and shared a bottle or two of soju.
The woman said she felt fine after the restaurant and back in Korea she drank regularly with her friends where she could down three bottles on her own and only feel tipsy.
Prosecutor Kate Nightingale told the jury that all five of Dhankhar’s alleged rapes followed almost exactly the same pattern.
After they responded, he arranged an interview at the Hilton Hotel in Sydney CBD where he asked them about their lives and gave them information about the ‘job’.
Balesh Dhankhar is accused of luring five young Korean women with a fake job offer before drugging and raping them on camera
Dhankhar then invited the women to dinner at Koibito, a nearby Korean restaurant, where they drank soju, wine, or Korean liquor makkoli.
The court heard that he allegedly drugged his first known victim there on January 25, 2018, but administered the sedative at his home on future occasions.
Ms Nightingale told the jury he convinced them to come to his flat ‘with all sorts of excuses or wiles’, such as showing them a good view of the Sydney Opera House.
More to come.