RAIPUR: The judicial commission report into the June 2012 Sarkeguda killings has got out to the media — and it is damning on the security forces. The report says there is no evidence that the 17 people killed were Maoists, and it has detected “manipulation in probe” after the killings.A joint team of CRPF and Chhattisgarh Police had gunned down 17 people in Sarkeguda in Bijapur on the night of June 28, 2012. Security forces claimed they had launched an operation on the basis of inputs about the presence of Maoists in Sarkeguda. A gunbattle had broken out in which the 17 were killed. However, locals insisted those killed were not Maoists but innocent villagers, who had assembled for a village meeting. Rights activists claimed there were six minors among those killed.It was one of the biggest controversies of the Raman Singh regime and both the state government and security forces had defended the police action. Under mounting pressure from human rights groups and opposition parties, including Congress, the BJP government had to order a judicial inquiry. The one-member judicial commission, headed by Justice V K Agrawal, a retired judge of MP HC, reportedly submitted his report to the state government last month.The 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 security forces might have “fired in panic”, the report says .The Justice Agrawal report has noted that the injuries suffered by six security 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