A Naxal, who had a bounty of Rs 8 lakhs on his head, surrendered in the Dantewada district of Chhattisgarh after his sister's appeal to not to return to the jungles again on Raksha Bandhan. Malla, who ran away from home when he was 12 and joined the Naxal movement, eventually rising up within their cadres, returned home after 14 years. He belongs to the Palnar village in the Dantewada district.

After not seeing his sister Lingay for all these years, Malla came to visit her. After the cursory visit, Lingay refused to let her brother leave and appealed to him to surrender to the police. She was reportedly afraid of losing her brother to the growing number of Naxalites who were being neutralised by the security forces in the region and feared for his life. Upon being asked about his previous life, Malla said, "I was a platoon deputy commander from 2016."