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The Special court in Kozhikode, Kerala [Images], on Thursday sentenced 62 of the 63 convicts in the May 2003 Marad carnage case to life imprisonment.

While 62 convicts had been booked under murder charges, another accused was found guilty for facilitating stockpiling of weapons inside a place of worship in the area.

Seventy six others were earlier acquitted by the court earlier for wanted of evidence.

The prosecution had pleaded that the case be termed as 'rarest of the rare' and maximum punishment be awarded to the convicts. However, the defence side had argued for showing leniency to those found guilty taking into account various socio-economic factors.

In all, 252 witnesses were questioned during the trial.

The May 2, 2003 incident was suspected to be sequel to the 2001 January attack in which five people were killed. The main accused in the present case is the brother of one of the victims of the 2001 incident.

Elaborate security arrangements had been made in and around the court premises and elsewhere in the district in view of the court pronouncing the final verdict in the case.