Gurgaon, March 10 (PTI): A court on Friday convicted 31 employees of Maruti Suzuki India Ltd, including 13 on charges of murder, for the violence at the company's Manesar plant in August 2012 in which an officer was burnt alive.

Additional District and Sessions Judge R.K. Goyal also acquitted 117 employees. The police had arrested 148 workers and charged them with the murder of senior human resources officer Awanish Kumar Dev.

The court sentenced 13 employees, holding top posts in the workers' union, on charges of murder and attempt to murder besides rioting and other related offences.

The other 18 were convicted on charges of rioting, trespassing, causing hurt and other related offences under Indian Penal Code.

The punishment will be decided on March 18 during the next hearing, defence counsel Rajendra Pathak told PTI.

The violence on August 18, 2012, broke out over wage issues when a group of employees allegedly torched a section of the company’s facility, killing Dev, a resident of South Delhi's Malviya Nagar.

More than 100 other employees, including some foreign nationals, suffered injuries.

The district administration had on Friday banned gatherings of more than five persons near the civil court and Industrial Model Township (IMT) Manesar.