Wang Peng shows his personal belongings returned by the police in Wuzhong city of Northwest China's Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region on Thursday, Dec 2, 2010. [Photo: Xinhua]

The police in Wuzhong, northwest China's Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region has redressed a mishandled case and released the detained informer, Wang Peng, on suspicion of "defamation", the local government said in a statement to Xinhua News Agency on Thursday.

A report in the Southern Metropolis Daily said that police in Wuzhong's Litong District traveled to neighboring Gansu Province and detained Wan Peng on Nov 23  who made allegations on the Internet about fraud in a civil service exam. The report said Wang raised doubts that his college roommate, Ma Jingjing, whose parents work as officials for the Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region government, became a civil servant without difficulty, even if he did poorly in college exams. Afterwards, Wang reported to administrative departments and on the Internet.

The statement said the criminal detention of Wang aroused heated public discussions and the Wuzhong Municipal Government asked related departments to investigate the case based on the law. The investigation showed Wang's case as an incident of private prosecution being mishandled for public prosecution.

According to the statement, the police set Wang free. Meanwhile, both the head of the public security bureau in the Litong District He Zexiang and the bureau's political commissar, Wang Hongdong, were removed from office.

The municipal government said they appreciated the public's supervision on the judicial work and would release further information about the investigation.