BEIJING (AP) _ Chinese avant-garde rock star Dou Wei is being investigated over an incident in which a newspaper office was trashed and a car set on fire, Beijing police said Thursday.

Rock singer Dou Wei (front) is taken away by police officers after setting fire to a car parking outside the office building of the Beijing News, May 10, 2006. [Sina.com]

A statement issued by the newspaper Beijing News said Dou, the ex-husband of pop star Faye Wong, came to the newspaper's offices Wednesday morning to complain about an article on his relationship with girlfriend Gao Yuan and their alleged financial woes.

After talking for two hours, Dou smashed office equipment and splashed employees with water, the paper said.

A pair of Dou's friends were called and took him away, but the singer reappeared outside the Beijing News' office that afternoon and set on fire a car belonging to the newspaper, the paper reported.

It said the flames were quickly extinguished and no injuries or major damage was reported.

Officers were called and took Dou and some unidentified other people away for questioning, the report said.

The singer's whereabouts were unknown Thursday. Dou apparently had no registered agent or business address.

"Like all others concerned with this matter, this newspaper awaits the result of the police investigation," the statement said. An editor at the paper, Li Suqi, said the News currently had nothing further to say.

A police duty officer confirmed that an investigation was underway, but refused to give details. The officer, who wouldn't give his name due to policy, was contacted by phone at the Xuanwu district police station where the newspaper is located.

Photographs published by the News showed Dou standing beside a flaming car and then stepping into a police station wagon.

Dou rose to fame as lead singer of rock band Black Panther in the early 1990s before branching out into more experimental music. He and Wong had a daughter together before divorcing in 1999.