India rebels 'got corporate fund'

By Subir Bhaumik
BBC News, Calcutta

The security forces are fighting Maoists in many parts of India

A top Maoist leader in India has alleged to have received regular funds for his party from leading corporate houses, the BBC has learnt.

The details were given by Narla Ravi Sharma, a senior leader in the states of Bihar and Jharkhand, to the police after his arrest a fortnight ago.

The BBC is in possession of Mr Sharma's "preliminary interrogation report".

The Maoists operate in many states and say they are fighting for the rights of the poor and landless.

India says that Maoist insurgents pose its biggest security threat.

'Monthly wages'

"Many big companies regularly pay a levy to our parties in both Bihar and Jharkhand," Mr Sharma is quoted as saying in the interrogation report.

Mr Sharma was arrested a fortnight ago (Photo: Dilip Verma)

The Maoist leader named some of the companies - most have huge interests in mining and manufacturing and are prominent on India's stock markets.

But the BBC is not in a position to reveal those who have been named because of legal considerations.

Jharkhand police say Mr Sharma has been in charge of the Bihar and Jharkhand Special Area Committee, which forms part of the Maoists' Eastern Regional Bureau (ERB), since 1997.

He is quoted as saying that the annual expenditure incurred by the Maoists in the Bihar-Jharkhand region is around $200,000.

The Maoist leader said that all their members were paid monthly "wages", though he refused to divulge how much.

Mr Sharma was arrested in mid-October along with his wife, Anuradha, from the forests near Hazaribagh town in Jharkhand.

His revelations about corporate funding of Maoists has prompted police and intelligence officials to suggest that the massive military effort planned against the rebels will not yield the desired results unless their "finance line" is choked .

This is not the first time Indian firms doing business in rebel-dominated areas have been accused of funding the rebels.

In the 1980s and 1990s big tea and oil companies were accused of regularly giving funds to the separatist United Liberation Front of Assam and the National Democratic Front of Bodoland in the north-east.

Corporates generally pay up to avoid disruption or abductions - and business leaders say that the government should not punish them unless they can provide security to companies operating in Maoist-affected areas.