The Chinese authorities have detained a law professor on Monday for publishing articles criticising President Xi Jinping over the coronavirus pandemic.
"The neighbours described about 10 police vehicles and two dozen officers who blocked and entered his house, and took him away," Geng Xiaonan, a businesswoman in publishing and film, was quoted as saying in a telephonic conversation with The New York Times.
She further said, "Xu Zhangrun said he was mentally prepared to be taken away. He kept a bag with clothes and a toothbrush hanging on his front door so he would be ready for this...But it's still a shock when it really happens."
Geng further said a police officer had informed Xu's wife that he was accused of soliciting prostitutes while visiting the southwest city of Chengdu.
"It's just the kind of vile slander that they use against someone they want to silence," she added.
According to media reports, Xu had published an essay in February criticising Xi's policy of deception and censorship over the coronavirus situation in China.
Xu worked as a law professor at Tsinghua University. He had earlier spoken against the 2018 abolition of presidential term limits.
( With inputs from ANI )