A city court on Saturday sentenced to death three persons convicted of the 2013 gang-rape and murder of a college student who hailed from Kamduni village in North 24 Parganas of West Bengal. Three other convicts were sentenced to life imprisonment.

The verdict comes more than two-and-a-half years after the incident, which sent shock waves across the State.

Additional District and Sessions Judge Sanchita Sarkar said the case fell within the category of the rarest of rare cases and awarded the capital punishment to Saiful Ali, Ansar Ali and Amin Ali. Sheikh Emanul Islam, Aminur Islam and Bhola Naskar, who have been convicted of the charges of gang rape, criminal conspiracy and causing disappearance of evidence, were sentenced to life imprisonment.

The conviction was announced on Thursday.

The West Bengal Police arrested nine persons for the crime.

While Gopal Naskar died in police custody during the trial, Rafiqul Islam and Nur Ali were acquitted for want of evidence. The villagers and the family members hailed the verdict. But the brother of the deceased girl was upset at the acquittal of the two accused. “We are very happy with the verdict, but the happiness would have been greater had all the convicts been awarded the death penalty. We will meet the Chief Minster over the acquittal of the two accused,” he said.