GUWAHATI: Arunachal Pradesh IAS officer Talo Potom was arrested by the police on Monday after being named in a teen's suicide note for alleged sexual harassment.
Potom, currently serving as Secretary, Public Works Department, Government of Delhi, surrendered to the Arunachal Pradesh Police early Monday morning after a lookout notice was issued against him.
“He will be produced before a magistrate today,” a senior police official told TNIE.
19-year-old Gomchu Yekar was found dead at his rented accommodation at Lekhi village in Papum Pare district on October 23. The police registered an unnatural death case after the father of the deceased had lodged an FIR.
Yekar's father claimed that the deceased held two senior officials responsible for his death in the multiple handwritten suicide notes that were recovered from his house.
Yekar accused IAS officer Potom and senior engineer Likwang Lowang of “sexually exploiting” and harassing him for a long time. He wrote that the prolonged humiliation, coercion and threats made him take the extreme step.
Likwang Lowang, who worked at the state's Rural Works Department, shot himself dead at his Khonsa residence in Tirap district hours after the suicide of the teenager.
The FIR accused the two officials of abetment of suicide, sexual exploitation, mental harassment, and corruption.
Potom refuted the charges made against him in a video statement that he issued before surrendering. He claimed that he did not have any personal relations with the deceased.
Potom had appointed the deceased as a contractual multi-tasking staff during his tenure as Deputy Commissioner (District Magistrate) in Itanagar.