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The Arunachal Pradesh Police on Monday arrested an IAS officer from the state in connection with allegations raised against him in a purported suicide note by a 19-year-old who died last week.
The IAS officer, Talo Potom, who is from the AGMUT cadre and was serving as Special Secretary with the Delhi government’s Public Works Department, surrendered before police in Itanagar on Monday morning. Before being transferred to Delhi in June this year, he was the DC of Itanagar.
According to Papum Pare SP Nyelam Nega, Potom has been booked for abetment of suicide and BNS sections 271 and 272, which pertain to negligent or malignant actions likely to spread the infection of “any disease dangerous to life”.
The 19-year-old is suspected to have died by suicide on October 23. According to his family, he had left suicide notes accusing the officials of sexually exploiting him, making financial promises, and manipulating him. The family also said he had written that he had contracted HIV.
Shortly before handing himself over to the police, the IAS officer issued a video statement denying the allegations, claiming that he had no personal relations with the deceased, who he had appointed as a contractual staffer. In the video, Potom alleged that he had blocked the deceased’s contact number after the 19-year-old made multiple calls to him following his transfer to Delhi, asking for assistance with some extortion-related cases.
After the deceased’s family filed a police complaint and an FIR was registered in Arunachal Pradesh’s Papum Pare district, police issued a Lookout Circular against Talo Potom.
Another official, who had been named in the teenager’s purported suicide notes, an executive engineer with the state’s Rural Works Department named Likwang Lowang, also died by suspected suicide in Tirap district in the intervening night of October 23 and 24, after the teenager’s death, SP Nega said.
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Papum Pare district witnessed tensions on Monday, with protesters, including the deceased teenager’s family, protesting outside the court complex where Talo Potom was produced after his arrest.
The SP said, “The police had been searching for him since October 24, when the matter was brought to our notice. While he is posted in Delhi, he was on leave and was in Arunachal because his daughter’s wedding is supposed to take place on October 28. On Monday, he himself surrendered to the police in Itanagar, after which he was arrested. Because of the potential law and order problems that could be seen outside both the police station and the court today, the court remanded him to judicial custody and not police custody.”
Sources said that the Public Works Department has written to the Services Department recommending the rustication of Talo Potom from service.
