Calcutta, Dec. 9: Five persons convicted in the murder of CPM leader Gurupada Bagchi were sentenced to life imprisonment today.

Subal Baidya, the fifth additional district and sessions judge of Alipore court, also fined them Rs 2,000 each or another two months in jail if they failed to pay up.

Bagchi, a party local committee secretary of south Kasba?s ward 67, was shot dead in the CIT market when he was buying fish on January 23, 2000, by criminals allegedly owing allegiance to the CPM.

?In all, 11 persons were arrested, of whom six were acquitted. Today, the judge sentenced the five convicted persons, Tarak Halder, Khokon Das, Basudeb Majumdar, Hari Ram Singh and Lalu Sau, to life imprisonment,? said public prosecutor Utpal Chatterjee.

CPM supporters brought out a procession in Kasba this evening in appreciation of the sentence. The murder had brought into focus intra-CPM strife as the killers were known to have been ?active associates? of the party at one time, a point which the local committee strongly contests.

Local MLA Rabin Deb said: ?None of the 11 accused persons were ever associated with our party.?

Around 2 pm, the five convicts entered the court smiling. As they were being escorted out after the sentence was announced, they hurled abuses at the police officials as well as a crowd of about 200 people that had gathered.

The persons acquitted yesterday were Shyam Raut, Moloy Nath alias Tona, Bimal Das, Rangalal Mondal, Amar Banik, and promoter Naresh Jain.

CID investigations showed a property dispute had escalated into a confrontation leading to Bagchi?s murder. Jain, a Kasba-based promoter, owned a plot in Bosepukur. The boundary was pulled down allegedly on Bagchi?s order. The murder plot was hatched thereafter.

A wave of violence followed the killing, with CPM supporters ransacking the CIT market. Enraged by police inaction, a mob also attacked Kasba police station. Transport minister Subhas Chakraborty and Left Front chairman Biman Bose had to rush to the spot to defuse the tension.