Beijing: A top official linked to one of China`s most powerful politicians has been placed on leave for stress, the government said on Wednesday, amid speculation that he had tried to flee the country.

Wang Lijun, vice mayor and former police chief of Chongqing, is famed as one of China`s top graft-busters after leading a crackdown that led to scores of senior officials being jailed in the southwestern city of 30 million people.
He has close links with Chongqing`s Communist Party secretary Bo Xilai, who is the son of a Chinese revolutionary and is widely expected to be promoted to a top party post in a 10-yearly leadership transition that begins this year. Wang was dismissed as Chongqing police chief last week, and today, Chinese websites buzzed with rumours he had sought asylum at the US consulate in the southwestern city of Chengdu.
The Chongqing government refused to comment when contacted by AFP, but a posting on an official microblog said Wang was on sick leave -- a term often used as a euphemism for a political purge in China`s one-party system. "Due to long-term overwork, a high level of mental stress and physical exhaustion, Vice Mayor Wang Lijun is currently receiving vacation-style treatment following approval," the provincial government said today.
China`s Internet authorities have censored microblog postings and searches using Wang`s name, although news websites widely carried the government statement.
The US embassy in Beijing refused to comment on rumours of an asylum request, which comes at a sensitive time with China`s vice president and leader-in-waiting Xi Jinping is due to make an official visit to Washington next week.
PTI