A Bihar district court on Tuesday sentenced 10 convicts to death in connection with the Senari massacre case in which 34 people were killed in 1999. Another three convicts got life imprisonment along with a fine of Rs 1 lakh each, and the quantum of punishment for two others will be announced on November 18, reported PTI. The Jehanabad district court convicted 15 people on October 27 this year and acquitted 23 others for lack of evidence.

The massacre took place on March 18, 1999, when cadres of Maoist Communist Centre killed 34 people of a particular upper caste. The cadres forced the victims out of their houses and lined them up near a temple before killing them with blunt objects. Chintamani Devi, who lost her husband and son in the killing spree, was an informer in the case. The first chargesheet in the case was filed in 2002 against 74 accused. However, with 18 people absconding, the trial was held against 56. Meanwhile, Chintamani Devi died in 2011, reported Hindustan Times.

The Senari incident was the last of a series of caste-related massacres at the time. It is believed to a retaliation to the Lakshman-Bathe massacre in which 57 dalits were killed in 1997, reported The Indian Express.