The Sealdah court rejected CBI's plea seeking death penalty for Roy, saying the crime did not fall under the "rarest of the rare" category.

The decision to challenge the trial court’s sentence of life imprisonment came hours after the central agency opposed a similar plea by the state government.

The West Bengal government has moved the Calcutta High Court seeking the death penalty for Sanjay Roy, convicted of raping and murdering a doctor at RG Kar hospital. The state challenges the Sealdah court's life imprisonment verdict,

KOLKATA: The Calcutta High Court on Wednesday said it would hear the CBI, the victim's family and the convict before deciding on the admission of an appeal filed by the West Bengal government claiming inadequacy of sentence given by a trial court in the RG Kar hospital rape-murder case.

India's West Bengal state launched an appeal on Tuesday to overturn a life sentence in favour of the death penalty for a police volunteer convicted of the rape and murder of a junior doctor, a senior lawyer aware of the development said.

The Bengal government has moved a division bench to file an appeal for the death penalty for the convict, Sanjay Roy, in the RG Kar rape-murder case.