A photo taken on March 10, 2016 shows Wu Wenying holds a portrait of her husband Hou Shuwei, who was tortured to death on May 22, 1997 at the age of 33. [Photo: hsw.cn]

Wang Zhongfu, a village head charged with torturing and killing a suspected thief, has been captured in a village in Xianyang City, Shannxi Province.

On June 9 last year, a local villager reported via the bulletin board system hsw.cn that Wang, who had been the head of the village since 2014, had a criminal record.

Based on this report, Xingping City police department responded and took Wang into custody on December 28, 2015.

Wang, together with six other people who worked in the same local police station, was convicted on November 19, 1998 after pleading guilty to a felony charge of extorting confessions by torture from two goat thief suspects in Shaanxi in May, 1997. One of the victims was tortured to death.

On November 2, 2001, Wang was sentenced to serve four years in prison for negligent assault by Xianyang Intermediate People's Court, which made the final judgment in the case.

For 14 years after the final judgment was made by the court, Wang Zhongfu was one of two cops who were never put into custody.

Instead, he joined the Communist Party in 2012 and was appointed the village branch secretary two years later.

The court told media that they tried to find and arrest the criminal but their efforts were in vein.

However, Wang Zhong'an, the elder brother of Wang Zhongfu, said that he had never seen anyone attempting to find his brother until he was finally caught by Xingping police, who claimed to have just received the arrest order from the court last year.

Authorities have started investigating the allegations of law enforcement misconduct with regard to this case.