The Judicial commission report into the June 28, 2012, killings at Sarkeguda in Bijapur District of Chhattisgarh says there is no evidence that the 17 persons killed were cadres of Communist Party of India-Maoist (CPI-Maoist), and it has detected “manipulation in probe” after the killings, reports The Times of India on December 2. A joint team of Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) and Chhattisgarh Police had gunned down 17 persons at Sarkeguda in the night of June 28. Security Forces (SFs) had claimed they had launched an operation on the basis of inputs about the presence of Maoists in Sarkeguda and killed 17 Maoists. However, locals insisted those killed were not Maoists but innocent villagers, who had assembled for a village meeting. Later, on July 11, 2012, a one-member judicial commission, headed by Justice V K Agrawal, a retired judge of Madhya Pradesh, High Court, was formed which submitted its report to the State Government in November 2019. The Justice Agrawal report doesn’t use the words ‘fake encounter’, but indicates that those killed were not rebels. The panel has pointed out that they killed from “close quarters”, and that one of the victims was gunned down in the morning — several hours after the “encounter” took place. There was no firing by the villagers, but the SFs might have “fired in panic”, the report says. The Justice Agrawal report has also noted that the injuries suffered by six SF personnel were due to crossfire — possibly by bullets fired by forces. Observing that there was “clear manipulation in the investigation”, the commission also doubted the villagers’ claim that they had assembled for a meeting to discuss a festival.