"Sanjeev Nanda, I award you five years jail term and the time earlier spent by you inside the jail would be deducted," said Additional Sessions Judge Vinod Kumar, who had earlier convicted him under a stringent penal provision which carries a maximum punishment of 10 years' imprisonment.

The court, however, did not impose any fine on him.

It sentenced co-convict and businessman Rajeev Gupta to one year rigorous imprisonment for destruction of evidence.

His two employees - Bhola Nath and Shyam Singh – were however awarded six months' jail terms each for washing off blood stains and pieces of victims' flesh from the offending vehicle after the incident.

The court also imposed a fine of Rs 10,000 on Gupta and Rs 100 each on his two employees, who were held guilty under Section 201 (destruction of evidence) of the IPC.

The had on September two convicted Nanda under Section 304 Part II (culpable homicide not amounting to murder) of the IPC prescribing a jail term of up to 10 years or fine or both as punishment.

Nanda had crushed six persons to death while driving the BMW car in an inebriated condition in the wee hours of January 10, 1999 at Lodhi Colony in south Delhi.

Nanda, 30, looked emotionally drained when brought to the court by the Delhi Police constables around 2.55 pm. He raised his hand after the judge called his name before pronouncing the sentence.

During the five-minute proceedings, Nanda, with a stubble of several days, stood flanked by his mother and sister Sonali and other relatives.

The other three convicts seemed more relaxed than Nanda. Unlike Nanda, the three are entitled to bail as a matter of right because their jail term does not exceed three years.

Counsel for Nanda, Prem Kumar told reporters that he would file an appeal in High Court after going through the judgement.

"There are many shortcomings in the judgement. Invoking of Section 304 II is one of them," he said, refusing to elaborate on other grounds of the appeal.

In its 87-page judgement, the court had on September two convicted Nanda, saying cases of high speed drunken driving in a crowded place resulting into death would be covered under the category of murder.

It said Nanda was intoxicated and knew that his driving could result in somebody's death.

The nine-year-long trial in the high-profile case involving Nanda saw many twists and turns with witnesses turning hostile and Nanda's counsel R K Anand and former Special Public Prosecutor I U Khan getting convicted for obstruction of justice. The two were later barred by the High Court from appearing in courts for four months.