India has a long history of magic and illusion but corrupt officials appear to have outdone themselves by making 450,000 lavatories disappear.
In an elaborate scam, government-subsidised lavatories intended for homes without one have been found to exist only on paper while the cash to construct them has disappeared.
Every new lavatory is meant to be photographed with the family it was built for to prove that it exists. The pictures usually show a smiling woman proudly showing off the new facilities.
However, it was discovered that while the photographs submitted often featured genuine lavatories, they were actually of ones that had already been built elsewhere.
The fraud came to light after complaints from villagers in the state of Madhya Pradesh, who said that many
