Reporters injured in villa probe

Police are investigating a case in which an official in Henan province is suspected of beating five reporters and threatening one of them with a pistol, during their efforts to expose an unauthorized villa project.

Niu Hao, 28, deputy head of the housing administration bureau of Shaoling district in Luohe city, is believed to have beat three local reporters and two reporters from Beijing on March 27 to prevent them from probing a villa project that he co-invested in, Zhou Dazeng, one of the three local reporters who were seriously injured, said on Friday.

Niu, together with three unidentified men, beat a local reporter, Yuan Yuqing, and two reporters from Beijing while they were on their way to Niu's bureau on the afternoon of March 27. Police took them away from the scene and released them after questioning, according to a Henan Television Station report.

Police suspect Niu and his companions beat Yuan again after the two Beijing reporters left for the capital. Yuan was taken to a wheat field and seriously beaten. The official is suspected of taking out a pistol and pointed it at the reporter's head, threatening to shoot him, the TV station reported.

Yuan told the official it was Zhou and another local reporter, Guo Chenggen, who told him about the unauthorized villa project case.

Yuan led the official and more than 10 of his companions to Zhou's house on the night of March 27 and saw Guo there. Niu's companions are suspected of beating the three reporters for more than two hours before forcing them to write a statement promising "never to report on the villa project again".

"They pushed my hand onto a table and threatened to cut my fingers," Guo said. "I had to beg for mercy."

Zhou received a phone call the next day from a man who claimed to be Niu's friend and promised to offer him and Guo 100,000 yuan ($15,860) in exchange for their silence over the matter. The man also told Zhou that the official's pistol was not a real one.

Zhou said he and Guo accepted the money to help pay for their medical expenses.

The incident was posted online and became a hot topic on micro blogs on Sina.com on Friday.

A publicity official from the Luohe government told China Daily on condition of anonymity that the police have started to investigate the case and the official will be punished if he illegally keeps the pistol.

Niu could not be reached for comment on Friday.

An official from the housing administration bureau of Shaoling district, where Niu works, said on Friday that Niu had asked for a few days' leave.