NAGPUR: A village with a population of 1,500 in Maharashtra's Yavatmal district recorded 27,398 "delayed birth registrations" in just three months, prompting the authorities to launch a probe amid suspicion of a large-scale cyber fraud, officials said on Friday.

The anomaly came to the fore during a vigilance drive by the health department, said a release by the district information officer.

Following a recent order by the Maharashtra government to cancel illegal and delayed birth-death registrations, the department launched a programme to scrutinise records between September and November, said officials.

However, the data captured in the birth-death registration system of Shendursani gram panchayat in Arni taluka stunned them. The release said over 27,000 delayed births were registered through the system in a span of three months.

Considering that the village has a population of just 1,500, the discovery of such a massive number of records was a serious matter, it said.

The District Health Officer and District Registrar (Births-Deaths) were alerted about the findings, and they subsequently informed the Chief Executive Officer of the Yavatmal Zilla Parishad, Mandar Patki, the release said.