CANBERRA: A district court jury in Sydney’s Downing Centre has convicted Balesh Dhankar, ex-head and one of the founding members of the Overseas Friends of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), of sexually abusing and drugging five Korean women.

The court reportedly pronounced Dhankar guilty of each of the 39 charges against him. He was found guilty of drugging and raping five Korean women and recording the footage on a hidden camera.

He faced 13 charges of rape, six of administering an intoxicating substance with intent to enable himself to rape, 17 of recording intimate videos without consent, and three of indecent assault.

The said crimes were committed between January and October 2018. When police raided Dhankhar’s apartment in October 2018, they found around 47 videos of him having sex with women who would either be unconscious or struggling.

The videos were kept in folders, each labelled with a Korean woman’s name.

When Crown prosecutor Kate Nightingale pointed out in a trial that Dhankhar thought it was fun watching Korean women who were unconscious, and impaired, Dhankhar replied: “It is just a porn video, it has nothing to do with the unconscious, impaired.”

The court was told that he would put out ads seeking to hire Korean-English speakers and would often meet the women at Sydney’s Hilton Hotel bar. He was nabbed while abusing the fifth Korean woman he met on a dating website.

Dhankhar targeted women who were alone, desperate for work and new in Sydney.

The Overseas Friends of BJP (OFBJP), Australia had reportedly played a pivotal role in organising Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s reception in Sydney in 2014.

However, OFBJP said that Dhankar had resigned from the organization in 2018. “Balesh Dhankar resigned from OFBJP Australia in July 2018. We strongly condemn his actions and he must face the full force of law,” the organisation tweeted.

Although 43-year-old Dhankar sought bail, the court dismissed the plea. He will face court again in May and will be sentenced later in the year.