No official was engaged in the alleged case of high school girls forcing other students to sell their virginity to local officials, authorities said, according to hsw.cn.

In September, five first-year high school girls in Wuqi County, Shaanxi Province, were reportedly threatened by seven senior students to sell their virginity to local government officials, and were later violently attacked after refusing to do so, the Legal Weekly reported.

According to the statement of the publicity office of Wuqi county, an investigation was launched into the case in Wuqi senior school, and six students suspected of beating up and sexually assaulting five students were arrested, with one was let off as she was below 16.

Other two suspects, an official and a KTV staff member, who reportedly employed the student to seek and force their victims to sell their virginities, were not detained as there was no evidence, the statement said.

A student suspect, surnamed Wang, who was accused of trying to force the victims to sell their bodies and had reportedly taken money, was cleared of the charges, it said.

Zhang Junyin, the former president of Wuqi senior high school, was dismissed from the post on Dec 12, said the official website of Wuqi county government on Wednesday.

Seven 11th grade female students reportedly beated up five fellow students, forced three of the victims to take their clothes off and took half-nude photos of them in a female student dormitory in Wuqi senior high school from 11 pm on Sept 21 till 5 am on Sept 22, said a report from Wuqi police on Wednesday.

The statement from the publicity office of Wuqi county explained that the bullying was a result of personal grievances.

However, media reports quoting parents of victims said the girls were beaten because they refused to sell their bodies. Some abusers took money from some businessmen who asked the girls to find teenage students to sell their virginity to local officials.