Chinese billionaire says kidnappers forced him to murder sex worker on film before releasing him
Zhang Yingqi was abducted earlier this month by four men who forced him to strangle a 23-year-old woman before they released him to fetch 100m yuan in ransom money, he says
A Chinese billionaire who was released by his kidnappers to fetch ransom money has told the police that his captors forced him to murder a massage parlour worker and videotaped the act in an attempt to get leverage over him, local media have reported.
The four gang members who abducted him have been arrested and officers investigating the scene have found a large makeshift outdoor oven which may have been used to try to cremate her body, according to the West China City Daily.
The revelations were the latest twist in the dramatic kidnapping and escape of Zhang Yingqi, the richest man in Yibin city in Sichuan province.
Zhang, a tycoon involved in the Sichuan Yibin Yili Group conglomerate, was seized by the men while he was riding in an elevator in a residential building on November 10, according to the Daily.
They used pepper spray to subdue him, tied his hands and feet, and gagged and blindfolded him before taking him to a remote village house.