Son of PLA singer arrested over Beijing gang rape

The teenage son of a prominent People's Liberation Army singing artist has been detained as a suspect in a gang rape at a Beijing hotel on Sunday, state media reported on Friday.

Quoting a statement from police in Beijing's Haidian district about the allegation against the son of PLA Art Academy tenor Li Shuangjiang, China Central Television said police had received a report from a woman on Tuesday.

She claimed she had been gang-raped by five men, one of whom was identified by the family name of Li. Police said they detained Li and his alleged accomplices on Wednesday for criminal investigation.

Quoting a police source, China News Service reported that the suspects included 17-year-old Li Guanfeng. It said the five men forced the woman into the Hubei Hotel in Beijing and gang-raped her. It said Li Tianyi , Li Shuangjiang's son, had changed his name to Li Guanfeng in recent months.

Beijing police did not respond to inquiries about whether the Li they had detained was actually Li Tianyi.

Li's 74-year old father has a non-command rank equivalent to major general. Inquiries to the Ministry of National Defence, which deals with military personnel, went unanswered yesterday.

The younger Li was sentenced to a year in a delinquent reformation centre in 2011 after he and another young friend assaulted a couple near his Beijing home.

The assault followed a minor collision between their cars. Li was driving a souped-up BMW and had no licence.