In the case of the skeleton found underneath the track of a middle school’s sports ground in Hunan province earlier this year, police have announced that two men have been charged with murder and 19 officials disciplined for helping in the cover-up.
The skeleton was discovered back in June at the Xinhuang No. 1 Middle School in Huaihai city. It was immediately assumed that the remains belonged to Deng Shiping, a former maintenance worker at the school who had disappeared mysteriously 16 years ago.
Deng had been overseeing the renovation of the school’s sports ground. According to his brother, Deng was unhappy with the quality of work done by contractors and refused to sign the relevant documents, instead reporting the problems to the local government. Not long after that, he went missing and was not seen again.
Local police dug up Deng’s remains after receiving a lead from a local big shot named Du Shaoping, who had been arrested as part of a local gang crackdown. In 2003, Du had been contracted to renovate the sports ground.
Along with Du, a man named Luo Guangzhong was also arrested. Du had hired him to help with the renovation work. They both confessed to murdering Deng and hiding him under the track.
According to police, their crime was covered up by then school principal Huang Bingsong, who happens to be Du’s uncle. Huang is said to have used his connections to mislead and obstruct the investigation into Deng’s disappearance, bribing local officials in the process.
One such official was Yang Jun, who was the deputy Party secretary of the Xinhuang County Public Security Bureau and a former classmate of Du’s. Both Huang and Yang have been expelled from the Communist Party and now await criminal charges to be filed against them.
