New Delhi (PTI): Former defence secretary Ajay Kumar has been appointed chairman of the UPSC, according to a Union Personnel Ministry order.

The post of Union Public Service Commission (UPSC) chairman fell vacant after the completion of Preeti Sudan's tenure on April 29.

Kumar's appointment was cleared by President Droupadi Murmu, according to the order issued on Tuesday.

A 1985-batch retired Indian Administrative Service (IAS) officer of the Kerala cadre, Kumar worked as defence secretary from August 23, 2019 to October 31, 2022, according to his service records.

The UPSC conducts civil services examinations to select officers for the IAS, Indian Foreign Service (IFS) and the Indian Police Service (IPS), among others. It is headed by a chairman and can have a maximum of 10 members.

At present, posts of two members are vacant in the commission.

A UPSC chairman is appointed for a term of six years or until attaining 65 years of age.

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Kolkata (PTI): Seven people were arrested from the Parnashree area in the southern part of the city for allegedly running a fake call centre, a police officer said on Saturday.

Acting on a tip-off, police raided a house on Netaji Subhas Road on Friday night and found the fake call centre operating from the ground floor, he said.

Preliminary investigation revealed that the accused had set up a bogus company using forged documents and posed as employees of an antivirus firm to call citizens in the US, the officer said.

"The callers would gain the trust of victims and then use remote access to take control of their phones or other digital devices. The accused allegedly siphoned off large sums of money, running into millions of dollars, from victims' accounts," he said.

Five laptops, two WiFi routers, six mobile phones and four headsets were seized from the accused, he said, adding that the seven are being questioned to ascertain the full extent of the racket and to identify others involved.