The Indian Food and Civil Supplies Ministry has found around 150 faked biometric-based ration cards in the Chikkaballapur district, reports Deccan Herald.

Department officials accidentally uncovered the fictitious cards when it found one that had an elderly couple claiming to have young children. Further investigation uncovered the fraud.

The department has filed a case against several parties, including the deputy director, fair price shop owners and the biometric franchisee for manipulating the system.

The accused parties apparently worked together to collect fingerprints instead of thumbprint data, which was used to make the fraudulent cards.

The ministry believes there could be more of these cards in the system and will work to verify all of the cards. If it finds more faked cards, it intends to press charges.

Read more here.