Police in Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region said yesterday that they have suspended the chief of a police station who is accused of raping a 13-year-old girl in January.

The Public Security Department of Guangxi said the police official surnamed Lu will be investigated and anyone found to be involved will be severely punished.

The incident caused an uproar online after the chief was freed early this month by the Yanshan District Procuratorate in Guilin City due to lack of evidence after a month of detention. Before the release, Lu and three other suspects were detained for investigation of rape, and one suspect was detained for coercion.

Two other suspects were also released since they are under 16 years old.

Netizens called for justice. They asked why Lu, director of the Dongshan Village police station in Quanzhou County of Guilin, was at large.

The rape is alleged to have occurred in January when the girl was forced into a vehicle and taken to a hotel in Quanzhou by three women and a man who threatened to beat her, burn her with boiling water or throw her into river if she resisted.

The girl was allegedly forced into having sex with Lu, 30. She was raped by two other men in the following days before being sent back to school, reports state.

The girl's parents, who alerted police, said she suffered great pain and thought of suicide, local media reported. She couldn't concentrate on school. They said not all those involved had been detained.