Arpita Mukherjee, an alleged associate of former minister Partha Chatterjee and in custody on the charge of money laundering in connection with alleged irregularities in school recruitments, came out of jail on Thursday on a five-day parole following the death of her mother.

Her mother, who was 76 and suffering from respiratory ailments, passed away at 8.05pm on Wednesday at the Mukherjees’ family home in Belgharia, said a family friend.

Mukherjee walked out of the women’s correctional home in Alipore around 5.30pm on Thursday, accompanied by her lawyer.

Sources said Mukherjee had applied for parole on Wednesday. The jail superintendent forwarded the application to the inspector-general (IG) of correctional services in Bengal.

Under the West Bengal Correctional Service Act, 1992, the IG, prison, is the competent authority to grant parole to inmates for emergencies like a death in the family.

“The authorities sat on her application, forcing us to approach the court on Thursday,” said Soham Banerjee, Mukherjee’s lawyer who petitioned the special CBI court in the city sessions court compound.

“Considering the exigency involved in the matter, the judge directed the competent authority to consider the undertrial’s prayer for permission to perform the last rites of her mother,” said Banerjee.

Sources in the police said the prison authorities wanted a prod from the court because Mukherjee is an undertrial in a “high-profile and sensitive case” involving central agencies.

A team from the Barrackpore commissionerate, including three female cops, accompanied Mukherjee to her family home. Her mother was cremated at Ariadaha on Thursday night.

Mukherjee was arrested with Chatterjee, then a minister, on July 23, 2022, by the Enforcement Directorate. Around ₹49.80 crore and gold and other jewellery worth ₹5.08 crore were allegedly seized from two apartments — in Tollygunge and Belgharia — of Mukherjee.

On Wednesday, two judges of a division bench of Calcutta High Court had differed over granting bail to Chatterjee and four others in a CBI case related to alleged irregularities in school recruitments. Justice Arijit Banerjee favoured bail but Justice Apurba Sinha Ray did not.

The bench will approach the chief justice “for appropriate direction”.