Sunita was born in Gomweta village in Chhattisgarh's Bijapur district, under Bhairamgarh tehsil. Her father, Bisru Oyam, said, "Three years ago, when she was barely 20, they came for her."
(Representative)
Barely five feet tall and just 23 years old, Sunita Oyam walked into Balaghat’s police control room with an INSAS rifle that seemed almost too heavy for her.
Until now, Oyam, a Maoist cadre, was among Madhya Pradesh’s most wanted, carrying a Rs 14 lakh bounty across three states. Police officers at Balaghat said they were stunned as she looked nothing like an Area Committee Member of the dreaded Malajkhand-Darrekasa dalam.
It was the first Naxalite surrender in Madhya Pradesh in 33 years, and also the first under the state’s new Rehabilitation and Relief Policy adopted 26 months earlier.
Standing in that glare of the local media, Sunita placed the rifle on the table before Superintendent of Police Aditya Mishra.
Mishra, a veteran of countless operations in the sole left-wing extremism-affected district in MP, leaned forward and asked, “Do you want to say anything?”
Sunita looked up at him, a brief smile flickering across her face. She did not comment. Later, when her family visited her in Balaghat, Sunita broke down on seeing her father and embraced him.
Sunita was born in Gomweta village in Chhattisgarh’s Bijapur district, under Bhairamgarh tehsil. Her father, Bisru Oyam, said, “Three years ago, when she was barely 20, they came for her.”
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“Then they wanted her younger sister, too. I refused. I told them no. They wouldn’t let me see my elder daughter, so I would not give them my younger one,” he said.
For three years, there was no contact. According to Balaghat police, “she was absorbed into the machinery of insurgency”. Said a senior police officer, “She became a security guard for Ramder, a Central Committee member of the Maoist organisation and one of the movement’s senior commanders operating across the MMC Zone (Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Chhattisgarh). By the time she reached the Malajkhand-Darrekasa dalam as an Area Committee member, bounties totalling Rs 14 lakh had been placed on her head across three states.”
On October 31, as dawn was breaking over the Balaghat forests, Sunita made her move. Silently, she gathered her rifle, her uniform, her kit bag and gave her group the slip, police said.
By November 1, she reached the Chauria HAWK Force camp in the Lanji police station area. She walked up to Assistant Jawan Rupendra Dhurve and, in a moment that would mark history, expressed her wish to surrender. She surrendered her INSAS rifle with three magazines, 30 live rounds, and a UBGL shell.
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Balaghat IG Sanjay Kumar said, “We confiscated her weapons. Nobody has anything to fear. The way Sunita surrendered, I appeal to the others to surrender. You may surrender anywhere, in front of a public representative or other officials. Everyone’s security will be taken into account.”
SP Mishra said, “Sunita’s parents said that the Naxals came for their daughters. They threatened to take away his younger daughter if they did not hand over Sunita. They forcibly took her away. This exposes the Naxal propaganda – that their cadres joined for the fight over tribal rights to forest, land and water.”
Government officials said Sunita would get at least Rs 20 lakh as part of the rehabilitation, Rs 1.5 lakh for housing, Rs 50,000 for marriage assistance if needed and another Rs 1.5 lakh if she wants to study.
Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Mohan Yadav cast the surrender in broader terms. “In the past ten months, Naxalites carrying rewards worth approximately Rs 1.5 crore have been neutralised. The police outreach program is also yielding positive results.”
Anand Mohan J is an award-winning Senior Correspondent for The Indian Express, currently leading the bureau’s coverage of Madhya Pradesh. With a career spanning over eight years, he has established himself as a trusted voice at the intersection of law, internal security, and public policy.
Based in Bhopal, Anand is widely recognized for his authoritative reporting on Maoist insurgency in Central India. In late 2025, he provided exclusive, ground-level coverage of the historic surrender of the final Maoist cadres in Madhya Pradesh, detailing the backchannel negotiations and the "vacuum of command" that led to the state being declared Maoist-free.
Expertise and Reporting Beats
Anand’s investigative work is characterized by a "Journalism of Courage" approach, holding institutions accountable through deep-dive analysis of several key sectors:
National Security & Counter-Insurgency: He is a primary chronicler of the decline of Naxalism in the Central Indian corridor, documenting the tactical shifts of security forces and the rehabilitation of surrendered cadres.
Judiciary & Legal Accountability: Drawing on over four years of experience covering Delhi’s trial courts and the Madhya Pradesh High Court, Anand deconstructs complex legal rulings. He has exposed critical institutional lapses, including custodial safety violations and the misuse of the National Security Act (NSA).
Wildlife Conservation (Project Cheetah): Anand is a leading reporter on Project Cheetah at Kuno National Park. He has provided extensive coverage of the biological and administrative hurdles of rewilding Namibian and South African cheetahs, as well as high-profile cases of wildlife trafficking.
Public Health & Social Safety: His recent investigative work has uncovered systemic negligence in public services, such as contaminated blood transfusions causing HIV infections in thalassemia patients and the human cost of the fertilizer crisis affecting rural farmers.
Professional Background
Tenure: Joined The Indian Express in 2017.
Locations: Transitioned from the high-pressure Delhi City beat (covering courts, police, and labor issues) to his current role as a regional lead in Madhya Pradesh.
Notable Investigations: * Exposed the "digital arrest" scams targeting entrepreneurs.
Investigated the Bandhavgarh elephant deaths and the impact of kodo millet fungus on local wildlife.
Documented the transition of power and welfare schemes (like Ladli Behna) in Madhya Pradesh governance.
Digital & Professional Presence
Author Profile: Anand Mohan J at Indian Express
Twitter handle: @mohanreports ... Read More
