Rewari Man Gets 40-Year Jail for Raping 5 in Australia

Balesh Dhankhar, a spokesman for the Hindu Council of Australia, went to the country on a student visa in 2004

- HTC & PTI

SYDNEY/ROHTAK: An Indian community leader in Australia has been sentenced to 40 years in prison, with a non-parole period of 30 years, for the "premeditated and elaborately executed" rapes of five Korean women, according to a media report. Balesh Dhankhar, 43, who hails from Rewari in Haryana, was sentenced in the Downing Centre District Court on Friday.

Dhankhar posted fake job advertisements to lure women before drugging them in or near his home in Sydney. The former IT consultant then groped and raped the women, the Australian Associated Press reported.

He also filmed his crimes for his future sexual gratification, the report said.

In jailing Dhankhar on Friday, district court judge Michael King said the offender's conduct was "premeditated, elaborately executed, manipulative and highly predatory" and demonstrated his desire for sexual gratification came in complete and callous disregard for each victim, he said.