Inner Mongolia's former police chief arrested over 'lover's murder'
The retired head of public security in the region is accused of shooting dead a 28-year-old woman in Chifeng on Friday
PUBLISHED : Sunday, 22 March, 2015, 2:45pm
UPDATED : Monday, 23 March, 2015, 9:56am
He Huifeng [email protected]
Zhao Liping was Inner Mongolia's police chief. Photo: Xinhua
He was a high-ranking cadre, a police chief and a poet, but now Zhao Liping is behind bars, suspected of shooting dead his alleged mistress and dumping her body on a roadside.
Zhao, 64, former vice-chairman of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference of Inner Mongolia and the retired boss of the region's police force, was arrested for the murder of the 28-year-old unnamed woman in Chifeng on Friday, Caixin.cn reported on Sunday.
Zhao was in charge of Inner Mongolia's police from 2005 until 2012, when he left after almost three decades in the force, the report said.
The woman was a clothing retailer, and the two had had a long-standing "intimate relationship", Caixin reported, citing unnamed sources close to the city's public security bureau.
The motive for the killing is not known but Zhao's arrest comes two months after rumours surfaced that he was target in an investigation into alleged corruption in the region, the sources said.
According to Caixin, the sources alleged that Zhao drove a car from an undisclosed place to Chifeng on Friday night and "chased" the victim along a road.
During the pursuit, the woman made a phone call to the city's emergency number, saying the region's former police chief was following her. She also reportedly tried and failed to flag down another car for help.
After allegedly shooting the woman dead, Zhao bundled her body in the boot of his car and drove out of the city, the report said.
It claimed Zhao later sought to destroy evidence by dumping the woman's body, pouring petrol over the victim and setting fire to her. It did not mention the exact time or location of the alleged murder. Police arrested Zhao later the same night with blood on his clothes and a gun and knife in his car, the report said. He was unable to account for his movements that night.
Zhao began his career in the police force as a criminal investigator at the age of 21. He rose up the ranks over the next few decades, culminating in seven years as the head of the region's public security bureau.
Xinhua's brief report late Saturday said only that the police were still investigating.
Caixin and Shanghai-based news website ThePaper.cn said it was not clear why Zhao had a firearm because officers must return their guns on retirement.
Local anti-graft inspectors reportedly began looking into his affairs two months ago after allegations were made in court that he was involved in bribery, according ThePaper.cn
The website reported that while standing trial in December, Du Wen, the director of a private law institute, told the Intermediate People's Court of Inner Mongolia that he once gave Zhao 1.3 million yuan (HK$1.6 million) in cash to bribe a senior official for help over a land deal.
The report said Du's claims were still under investigation and Zhao rejected Du's allegations.
At least two senior mainland officials have been implicated in the deaths of their lovers in recent years. In July, Lai Yicheng, 69, the retired vice-chairman of the political consultative conference in Shantou, Guangdong province, turned himself in to the police after strangling his mistress to death with a bed sheet.
In August 2010, a former Communist Party district chief in Hangzhou, Zhejiang province, was sentenced to death for suffocating his mistress.
