Bengaluru: The Ministry of Law and Justice on Tuesday announced the appointment of Justice Dinesh Maheshwari, the Chief Justice of the Meghalaya High Court, to the post of Chief Justice of the Karnataka High Court.  He will take over from Justice H G Ramesh, the current acting Chief Justice, and has been asked to assume office before February 20.

The appointment comes at a time when senior advocates of the Karnataka High Court are conducting a relay hunger strike to protest against pending vacancies in the high court.

Justice Dinesh Maheshwari graduated in law from Jodhpur University in 1980. In 1981 he started his career as a layer. He was elevated as a judge of the Rajasthan High Court on September 2, 2004 and then transferred to the Allahabad High Court in July 2014.

Subsequently, Justice Maheshwari took charge of the Meghalaya High Court in 2016 and is currently serving there. Within February 20 he is expected to take oath as the Chief Justice of Karnataka High Court.

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Bengaluru: In what appears to be the first such cybercrime reported in Bengaluru, a 57-year-old woman reportedly lost Rs 2 lakh after following instructions and pressing a key during a fake IVR (Interactive Voice Response) call from a nationalised bank.

The woman, a resident of Dattatreyanagar in Hosakerehalli, received a call that appeared to be from the State Bank of India (SBI), a bank she holds an account with. The IVR message claimed that Rs 2 lakh was being transferred from her account and instructed her to press '1' if she did not authorize the transaction, as reported by the Times of India on Thursday.

"I was shocked on hearing the voice note as I had not done any such transaction. I didn't press any number. The voice note repeated, saying that I have not responded. I was confused. After three rounds of such announcements, I pressed 1 as I had not initiated the transaction. Soon after that, there was a second announcement stating, ‘Please visit your bank and contact the manager immediately.' Subsequently, the call got disconnected," she told the national daily.

Shortly after, the call disconnected, and she discovered a Rs 2 lakh loss in her account. She immediately contacted her bank and filed a complaint with the police.

Meanwhile, a senior police officer explained that fraudsters often use IVR calls to ask for personal details like the last four digits of a debit card, bank account number, date of birth, email ID, or other information needed to access online banking. "Once the victim shares the information, the money is siphoned off. Without sharing the credentials, it is not possible to siphon off money just by pressing the options 3 or 1 or 9," he told TOI.

The officer noted that the victim may have shared some information in response to the voice message, which could have allowed the fraudsters to access her account and steal the money. If she didn't provide any details, this type of scam would be new to them, and the investigation will provide more clarity.

A case has been registered under the Information Technology Act and BNS section 318 (cheating).