POLICE in China have arrested two people suspected of killing a journalist who had exposed "gutter" cooking oil scandal.
Li Xiang, 30, a reporter with Luoyang Television Station in the central province of Henan, was knifed more than 10 times early on Monday as he returned home from a karaoke session with friends, state media has reported.
The Luoyang Police Department announced the arrests on its microblog. A spokesman said the motive for the murder was "still under investigation".
Police had been treating the case as a "murder-robbery" after failing to locate the laptop computer Mr Li had been carrying, but they had not ruled other motives, previous media reports said.
But Chinese Internet users said Mr Li was killed due to his interest in the latest food scandal to hit China, a "gutter" cooking oil scam which has led to the arrests of 32 people caught selling the carcinogenic product.
Police in Henan and the eastern provinces of Zhejiang and Shandong found more than 100 tonnes of the recycled oil illegally made from leftovers taken from gutters, the Ministry of Public Security said last week.
The last post on Mr Li's microblog on September 15 said web users "had complained that Luanchuan county (in Henan) has dens manufacturing gutter cooking oil, but the food safety commission replied that they didn't find any".
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