Cops deny bribery over investigation into rape

Police in Central China's Hunan Province denied taking bribes while investigating the rape case of an 11-year-old girl who recently gave birth. They said no evidence could be found to prove that her teachers had raped her.

Local police confirmed that a 74-year-old man, surnamed Tang, was the father of the girl's baby. Tang had confessed to police that he had started raping the girl since August and paid her up to 10 yuan ($1.63) each time to remain silent.

Police from Qiyang, Hunan Province, released the statement on Sunday to the Xinhua News Agency after the family of the victim insisted that three teachers had also participated in the rapes and that local police officers took bribes when investigating the case.

Police said they found no evidence linking the teachers to the rape and denied that officers had behaved inappropriately.

The victim, surnamed Li, was found to be pregnant in January. Li told her parents that, aside from Tang, three of her primary school teachers had also molested her between June and September last year.

Li's parents told the China Youth Daily earlier that they initially meant for their daughter to abort the child but decided to keep the baby as evidence.

An initial DNA test linked the baby to Tang. However, Li's father said the result was flawed as the teachers had not participated in the DNA test and Tang is related to the family.

The family continued to pursue the case and demanded 1 million yuan as compensation.

After the media exposed the story last week, the Qiyang government formed a special work group to re-investigate the case. Blood samples drawn from the teachers showed no evidence that they are related to the baby.