Daijiworld Media Network - Balaghat

Balaghat, Nov 2: In a major success for anti-Maoist operations, a 22-year-old female Maoist, Sunita, surrendered before police in Madhya Pradesh’s Balaghat district, officials said on Sunday.

The surrender took place on Saturday evening at the Chauriya Camp of Pitkona police outpost under the Lanji police station area, marking a crucial development in security operations across the Maoist-affected border zones of Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh.

According to Rakesh Kumar Pandro, Additional Superintendent of Police (Anti-Maoist Operations), Sunita, a resident of Veerman Indravati in Bijapur district, Chhattisgarh, laid down her INSAS rifle and three magazines before authorities.

Sunita joined the Maoist ranks in 2022 and underwent six months of combat training in the Maad region. She was later appointed as a personal security guard to Ramder, a senior Central Committee member of the Maoist organisation. Her association with such a high-ranking leader placed her within the inner operational circle of the Maoist hierarchy. She later became an Area Committee Member (ACM), responsible for recruitment, propaganda distribution, and intelligence gathering on police movements across the Indravati, Maad, and Darreksa zones.

Police officials said her surrender is a strategic setback for the Maoist group, as it weakens their recruitment network and disrupts local surveillance efforts. Security forces believe that Sunita’s surrender reflects increasing disillusionment among lower-rung Maoists, many of whom are struggling with poor living conditions and internal pressure within the organisation.

Authorities have credited ongoing rehabilitation and outreach programmes for encouraging such defections. “Her decision to surrender will inspire others who have been forced or misled into the Maoist movement to return to the mainstream,” ASP Pandro said.

Sunita will be rehabilitated under Madhya Pradesh’s surrender policy, which provides financial and social assistance to former insurgents. Her cooperation is also expected to aid intelligence efforts aimed at dismantling Maoist networks active along the Madhya Pradesh–Chhattisgarh border.

Officials said the development sends a strong message to the Maoist leadership about the increasing effectiveness of coordinated law enforcement and counter-insurgency operations in central India.