Hazaribagh: Jharkhand police have arrested a high-profile Maoist couple - Ravi Sharma and Karuna.Sharma, an agriculture scientist - who were allegedly behind a series of violent
activities in the state. Hailing from Andhra Pradesh, Sharma was also known among the
Red Ultras as Arjun, Mahesh and Ashok. His wife Karuna was also known as Rajitha and
Anuradha in the Maoist ranks. Producing the couple before the media, Hazaribagh
Superintendent of Police, Pankaj Kamboj claimed that they were running the Maoist outfit
in Bihar and Jharkhand since 1999. Fifty-year-old Sharma was a member of the Central
Committee of Communist Party of India (Maoist) and in-charge of Maoist operations in the
Bihar-Jharkhand special area committee. According to SP Kambhoj, "At present, his
(Sharma) main work is to give military-related training and hold camps and distribute
literature to his cadre. Apart from Bihar, we are investigating in Bengal and Orissa where
he (Sharma) is in touch with fellow rebels." The couple were arrested in the Ichak police
station limits in the district and were responsible for a sudden increase in Naxal violence in
these two states. With their arrest, the Maoist movement is jolted," SP Kambhoj claimed.
Karuna (45) left her public sector bank job in Hyderabad to fight for the cause of
oppressed people against capitalism in the country. The Maoists Central Committee
deputed Karuna to Bihar to expand the Women Liberation Organisation in 2007. "I think
that if we don't change the source of oppression in society we can't do anything. We have
to finish the inequality. There is a gap between educated white collar and labour class
people. In a country like India that gap is huge. If we have to bridge that gap, we will have
to change the system," said Karuna. Police claimed they found the whole strategy of
movement recorded in a laptop seized from them. Vital information related to Naxals was
also found in the diaries and letters of the couple, police said. Police recovered a laptop,
bank passbooks, Permanent Account Number (PAN) cards, cash of about Rs.60, 000, a
nine MM foreign-made revolver, cartridges and documents relating to the Maoist
operational strategies for Bihar and Jharkhand. The police are hoping to get vital
information from them on Maoists' activities and also about their involvement in its activities
that shook Jharkhand and Bihar states in the recent past.
