Maruti factory violence case: 13 sentenced to life imprisonment

Court had acquitted 117 of the 148 employees named in chargesheet in the case for want of evidence

Thirteen people have been sentenced to life imprisonment in a case of violence and rioting at Maruti Suzuki India Ltd's (MSIL) Manesar plant in 2012 in which a senior officer had died of asphyxiation.

On March 10, the court had convicted 31 employees of MSIL, including 13 of murder, in connection with the case.

Additional district and sessions judge R P Goyal had acquitted 117 of the 148 employees named in the chargesheet in the case for want of evidence.

Violence had erupted at the facility in August 2012 over disciplinary action against an employee during which agitated workers had gone on the rampage, torching a part of the factory, setting senior human resource manager Awanish Kumar Dev on fire, and beating up and bludgeoning with rods 100 others.

Those wounded included some foreigners and policemen.

Hundreds of policemen in riot gear have been deployed at the court and outside the automobile maker's offices over threats by workers to mobilise large-scale protests if their colleagues "did not get justice".

The administration has imposed prohibitory orders under section 144 of CrPC in the district till March 25.