Has this been verified at all? The story has been getting a lot of traction, but the original source always seems to trace back to the same single article from the Rationalist International.

I tried to check the India TV website, but got nothing. Shouldn't this be getting more mainstream news coverage if it is for real?

I'm not saying that I'm sure that this is a hoax - more just that it seems very weakly sourced. I'd love to see independent confirmation.

I really _want_ this story to be true, but there are aspects of it that feel implausible. Magicians generally don't maintain their mystique by holding themselves up for public scrutiny under controlled circumstances.