Gomchu Yekar Suicide: Supreme Court Upholds Arunachal Pradesh IAS Officer Talo Potom's Bail In Abetment Case

The Supreme Court today overturned the Gauhati High Court order which set aside the bail granted to Arunachal Pradesh IAS officer Talo Potom in the abetment of suicide case of 19-year old Gomchu Yekar.

As per allegations, Gomchu Yekar was employed in the State Public Works Department. The job was given to him by Potom. In his suicide note, Yekar accused Potom and another (engineer in the Rural Works Dept) of sexually assaulting him, which led him to get infected with HIV/AIDS.

A bench of Justices JK Maheshwari and Atul S Chandurkar passed the order, after hearing counsel for the complainant.

Considering the material, and after hearing counsel for the complainant, the bench found no reason for cancellation of Potom's bail. As such, the appeal was allowed and bail granted by the trial court ordered to remain in operation.

Notably, the Court refrained from commenting on the dying declaration, so that the merits of the case were not affected. It added that Potom shall not intimidate or influence the other side, or the witnesses, during the pendency of the trial. If any complaint in this regard is found to be correct, the court shall be at liberty to take recourse for cancellation of bail.

It was also clarified that the observations made by the trial court while granting bail shall have nothing to do with merits of the case.

Earlier, the Court had stayed the High Court order, while ordering that Potom shall cooperate with the investigation.

To recap, the case arose out of the tragic demise of 19-year-old Gomchu Yekar, who is stated to have died by suicide at his rented house in Lekhi village on 23.10.2025. As per claims, the deceased left behind suicide notes disclosing systematic mental harassment, sexual exploitation, corruption-related activities, and exposure to HIV/AIDS by the accused persons.

Talo Potom was arrested on 27.10.2025 and came to be enlarged on bail by the Sessions Court within 7 days of his arrest. The bail order of November 4 was challenged by the deceased's father before the High Court, which cancelled Potom's bail and ordered that he be taken into custody forthwith.

"In the present case, this Court is of the opinion that the learned Trial Court completely ignored relevant materials necessitating further custody of the accused and granted bail without proper application of mind. The release of an influential person like the respondent No.2/accused at such a nascent stage of the investigation, when there was a clear prima facie case against him would have derailed the entire investigation process", the High Court observed.

Pertinently, in the proceedings before the trial court, the prosecution informed that Whatsapp chats and voice messages exchanged between the accused and the deceased were deleted by the accused. As such, the relevant handsets had been forwarded to FSL for analysis and the results were pending. It was also highlighted that the accused did not enter police custody due to law and order problems and was straightaway sent to judicial custody.

Perusing the bail order, the High Court noted that the trial court erred by going into the merits of the case and conducting a mini trial. It further observed that the trial court could not have lightly dismissed the fact that Potom was named in the suicide note, which constituted material prima facie evidence against him.

Aggrieved, Potom approached the Supreme Court.

Case Title: TALO POTOM Versus THE STATE OF ARUNACHAL PRADESH AND ANR., SLP(Crl) No. 1699/2026