Arunachal: IAS officer Talo Potom granted bail in Gomchu Yekar death case

Guwahati: Former Itanagar Capital Region deputy commissioner Talo Potom has been granted bail in connection with the death of Gomchu Yekar, who died by suicide on 23 October at his rented apartment in Lekhi village in Arunachal’s Nirjuli.

The district and sessions court in Yupia granted bail to Potom, an IAS officer, on a bond of Rs 1 lakh.

Potom had surrendered to the police and was placed in 14 days’ judicial custody on 27 October.

Yekar’s family had held Potom and Rural Works Department executive engineer Likwang Lowang responsible for his death.

An FIR had been filed by Yekar’s father at the Nirjuli police station. Based on the FIR, the police registered a case against Potom and the late Lowang under Sections 108, 271, 272, and 3(5) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS), which relate to abetment of suicide.

The FIR alleged that Yekar was coerced into unlawful activities, humiliated repeatedly, and later abandoned. Handwritten notes found at the scene reportedly mentioned harassment and coercion by Potom and Lowang.

On the same day, Lowang also died by suicide at his residence in Khonsa.

According to the notes, Yekar claimed he had faced sexual exploitation and harassment over a long period and that continued humiliation, coercion, and threats led him to take his own life.

The notes reportedly also mentioned alleged manipulation, financial promises, threats, and that Yekar had contracted HIV, accusing one official of abandoning and blackmailing him.

The case is now under investigation by the Special Investigation Team (SIT) of the Arunachal Pradesh Police.