After a recent investigation, the so-called "virgin prostitute" case, known in Chinese as "the March 16 incident", was discovered to be a plan by Liu Shihua to mislead the media and public, according to local media reports.

Kunming police told local media that in October of last year, Liu Shihua (刘仕华) and Zhang Anfen (张安芬) - the mother of Liu's three daughters - conspired to pimp out one of their daughters, who operated under the alias of "Chen Yan". Chen Yan was to use a room rented by Liu as her base of illicit operations.

At 9 pm on March 16, Chen was reportedly bringing a client surnamed Wang to her room, the two were discovered by low-ranking patrol officers from the Wangjiaqiao police station who did not have the independent authority to make searches or arrests. The officers called police to examine the premises.

According to police, Liu Shihua saw from inside the rented room that officers were near and he discussed what to do with his friend Pu Enfu (普恩富), who was also present. Liu and Pu reportedly made Chen Yan and her older sister change clothes so that police would arrest the wrong girl.

When officers approached the rented room, Zhang Anfen charged out and hit one officer in the left eye. Liu and Pu emerged wielding a knife and a club, respectively. After a struggle between the two sides, Zhang, Liu and Pu were all brought under control and their weapons seized. After the altercation, Pu claimed that two of his ribs were broken by police while they were questioning him.

Liu, Zhang, Pu and two of Liu and Zhang's daughters and another family friend spent the night in jail and were released the next morning, according to police.

On March 20, Liu and Zhang reportedly went to the Kunming Public Security Bureau's Wuhua branch office to demand 200,000 yuan in compensation from the police. When their attempt failed, police say Liu and Zhang obtained fake hospital documents claiming their daughters were virgins, which they released to local media.

Although the police maintain that their officers did not abuse Pu or any of the others, two officers were punished and two were fired as a result of improper handling of the arrest.

A police spokesperson said that both Liu and Pu have reportedly spent time in prison for robbery.

When presented with evidence that Pu had faked injury and that Liu's hospital documents were faked, Liu and company confessed to faking both the injury and the documents, the police spokesperson said.

The spokesperson emphasized that Kunming police do not extract confessions by torturing suspects. Liu Shihua is once again under arrest and Zhang Anfen is out on bail.