A young man in whose Honda City car a 37-year-old mother of two had been gang-raped on Park Street eight years ago has completed his prison term and walked out of jail a free man.

Sumit Bajaj, 29, one of the five men convicted in the Park Street gang-rape case and was sentenced to 10 years in jail, was released from a correctional home in Howrah one year and eight months before the term was to end because of the “remission” he had earned for his “good behaviour”, sources in the jail department said.

Sumit was then 21 when he was arrested on February 18, 2012, with two of his friends and co-convicts in the case – Naser Khan and Ruman Khan, alias Tussi. Naser is lodged at Presidency jail and Ruman at the Jalpaiguri jail. Both have been sentenced to 10 years in jail.

Kadir Khan, who was the prime accused, and Ali, the fifth accused, were captured four years later from a hideout in Greater Noida. They too are lodged inside two jails in Bengal.

Responding to a call from The Telegraph, Sumit’s mother said on Monday: “Obviously, we are very happy. We are yet to decide what he is going to do.”

Jail department officials said inmates become eligible for “remission” from three months after the date of sentencing. “Remission” — according to the jail code of conduct — is a reduction in the prison term, earned through “good conduct” and work inside jails.

Jail superintendents and senior officials of the department have the power to grant a convict remission of up to 90 days in a year.

Sumit had earned 524 days of remission during his eight-year stay in jail.

A source in the jail department said Sumit had been engaged in office work in most of the jails he had been lodged in since being sentenced — Dum Dum, Presidency, Baruipur and Howrah.

“He was mostly attached to the office of the superintendent. His work would include assisting the superintendent of the jail with paperwork,” an official said.

Another official said Sumit would also spend a lot of time painting. ‘

Sources in the jail department said Sumit, Naser and Ruman had been arrested on the same day. Their conviction, too, came on the same day. The remission of Naser and Ruman is being calculated, they said.