Bo Tortured 3 to Death to Cover for Wife Says HK Mag
By wchung | 12 May, 2025

Bo Xilai killed three investigators working under Wang Lijun while trying to force them to recant their conclusion that Bo’s wife Gu Kailai was behind Neil Heywood’s murder, according to an article in the Hong Kong-based weekly Yazhou Zhoukan.

After Heywood’s body was discovered at the secluded Nanshan Lijing Holiday Hotel last November 15, Wang, then heading up the Chongqing police department, ordered five close aides to conduct a secret probe, said sources familiar with the party’s investigation into Bo’s case.

On January 28 Wang reported to Bo that the evidence pointed to Gu’s role in Heywood’s death. Enraged, Bo slapped Wang and called him a dog. He then ordered the five investigators imprisoned, then began torturing them in an effort to force them to repudiate their conclusion. Two of the men died during torture while a third committed suicide to escape further torture.

Bo replaced Wang with deputy police chief Guo Weiguo and ordered Guo to eliminate all evidence relating to Heywood’s death, resulting in the body being cremated. On February 1 Bo and the Chongqing city committee relieved Wang of his post. The next day Chen Cungen, director of the city’s organization department, gave Wang the news and asked for his firearm. An angry Wang is reported to have flung the gun on the desk.

A few days later masked agents came to take away Wang’s driver. A fearful Wang lost no time driving to the US consulate in Chengdu on February 6. In a bid to explain his desire for asylum he relayed his conclusions about Gu’s role in Heywood’s death. The Americans denied Wang asylum but did keep him away from the large security force sent to surround the consulate. Instead Wang was turned over a day later to agents rushed to Chengdu by the central government.

By then Wang’s drama at the consulate had become global news, leaving top party leaders little choice but to address the allegations against Bo and Gu. That led to Bo’s ouster from all party posts and Gu’s arrest on suspicion of Heywood’s murder, kicking off China’s biggest political scandal since the Tiananmen Square Massacre in 1989.

Among the charges Bo faces is his failure to obtain party approval for his 2008 appointment of Wang as Chongqing’s public security chief and for his removal of Wang from the post. While the rest of the world is focused on Bo’s more sensational crimes and abuses of power, the Communist Party leadership may have been moved to bring down Bo more because of his insolent disregard of party protocol.