Here are the big stories from Karnataka today

Karnataka Today newsletter: Bengaluru bizman loses ₹52 lakh to Bitcoin fraud, and more

Victims of cyber crime will be able to file complaints at their nearest police stations henceforth, Bengaluru Police Commissioner B. Dayananda has said. Participating in THTalksBengaluru, a live chat with The Hindu and its readers on June 30, he also said women’s police stations will come up in every division. There are only two at present in the city.

Mr. Dayananda, who recently took over as the Police Commissioner of Bengaluru on May 31, also answered a range of questions from readers, including on traffic, noise pollution and police-public connect. To watch the full interaction, click here.

A 39-year-old businessman lost over ₹52 lakh after participating in a cryptocurrency exchange task. He pledged gold, withdrew a fixed deposit, used business overdraft and borrowed money from friends to pay the fraudsters. Bankrupt, Nalagani Gururaju — who runs two hair salons at Electronics City — approached the bank with his complaint.

The bank was unable to recover the money transferred by him to the accounts of the fraudsters, which had been opened in private banks in Delhi, Andhra Pradesh and Odisha. An FIR has been registered at South East CEN Crime Police Station. 

The High Court of Karnataka on June 30, 2023, dismissed a petition filed by Twitter Inc., challenging several blocking and take-down orders issued by the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (Meity), saying the company’s plea was devoid of merits. The single-judge bench of Justice Krishna S. Dixit also imposed a cost of ₹50 lakh on Twitter and ordered it to be paid to the Karnataka State Legal Services Authority within 45 days.

Twitter had challenged 10 different ‘blocking orders’ issued by the Ministry between February 2, 2021 and February 28, 2022, under Section 69A of the Information Technology Act. Twitter, in its petition, had claimed that the orders “fall foul of Section 69A both substantially and procedurally.”

Allaying fears of the possibility of a drinking water scarcity in Mysuru due to failure of monsoon and low storage levels in dams, Mysuru City Corporation (MCC) Commissioner Lakshmikanth Reddy said with the current storage levels in the Krishnaraja Sagar (KRS) and Kabini dams, drinking water requirements of Mysuru can be met till August 15.