Dhaka: A court here on Wednesday sentenced five people to death and three others to life term imprisonment for killing a man in 1999.

The condemned convicts -- Dulal alias Alu, Belal, Sharif Mahmud Hossain alias Panna, Amzad Hossain, Waliullah Khan alias Bulbul -- were also fined Tk 10,000 each.

Among them, Panna, Amzad and Bulbul were tried in absentia.

The lifers are Sumon alias Pagla Sumon, Salauddin alias Sujon and Jabed Mia. All of them are on the run.

The court fined the lifers Tk 10,000 each, in default, to suffer one year more rigorous imprisonment.

However, the court also acquitted seven other accused as allegations brought against them could not be proved. All the convicts were class IV employees of Sir Salimullah Medical College and Hospital.

According to the prosecution, Khorshed Alam, 22, son of Siddiqur Rahman, a IV class employee of the hospital, was stabbed to death by the convicts over previous enmity in a field behind the hospital on May 22, 1999.

Later, Siddiqur Rahman filed a murder case against 15 with Kotwali Police Station on the same day.

After examining the records and witnesses, Dhaka 4th additional Metropolitan Sessions Judge Mohammad Ruhul Amin pronounced the verdict.