Xiao Chuanguo, head of the Urology Department of Wuhan Union Hospital, has been arrested on charges of masterminding attacks on two campaigners against academic fraud.

The police said Xiao had confessed to planning attacks on Fang Zhouzi, a popular science writer, on August 29, and on Fang Xuanchang, an editor of business journal Caijing, on June 24.

Xiao reportedly said the attacks were motivated by revenge, as he believed the two Fangs' exposure of his academic fraud deprived him of the chance to become an academician at the Chinese Academy of Sciences in 2005 and triggered lawsuits against him for alleged medical malpractice. He paid 100,000 yuan ($15,000) to the attackers, who were arrested by the police before Xiao's capture.