Victim denies injuries were self-inflicted

TAIPEI - Police on Monday questioned a man who claimed his hand had to be amputated after a savage robbery on the Chinese mainland.

Hu Chi-yang, who is from Taiwan, is under investigation amid allegations he inflicted the injuries on himself.

Detectives on the island province said the probe comes at the request of Hu's insurance company, and cited mainland police as saying the man took out a $1-million policy on himself before the incident.The 59-year-old, whose left arm now ends in a stump, was shown on television on his way to the police interrogation.

The case emerged this month when Hu, a retired businessman, told Taiwan media that three men attacked him in East China's Fujian province.

He said they robbed him of about $600 in cash and nearly cut his left hand off to get at his ring and Rolex watch, forcing him to have it amputated after doctors told him it was too badly damaged to save.

Hu then complained that mainland police refused to allow him to take the severed hand back to Taiwan, preventing him from using it as evidence.

At a news conference on Monday, police in Fujian said they believe Hu's injuries were self-inflicted, saying the cuts were precise and that blood collected at the alleged crime scene contained traces of anesthetic.

According to China News Service, the police said they also found Hu's fingerprints on a knife dumped nearby, and evidence that he bought it from a shop nearby.

Police and prosecutors in Taipei said on Monday they were opening a case on Hu.

"We've received a request from an insurance company calling for an investigation," said Yang Yuan-ming, deputy chief of Taiwan's criminal investigation bureau.

He cited mainland investigators as saying that Hu had bought insurance policies worth NT$31 million ($1 million) before traveling to the mainland.

In an interview with AFP this month, Hu insisted he was attacked and objected to the mainland authorities refusing to give him the amputated hand.

"I am the victim, but they treated me as if I were the robber. I never want to go to the mainland again," he was quoted as saying.

AFP