A Puducherry court has sentenced a local resident S Pradeep to five years of rigorous imprisonment in connection with the suicide of MBBS fourth-year student Priyadarshini with whom he was in a relationship, officials said here on Monday.

The case was handed over to the CBI on the orders of the Madras High Court on a petition of the mother of the Priyadarshini. The medical student had hung herself on the night of May 16, 2012, in her hostel room, they said. The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) found that Priyadarshini was in love with Pradeep who had started avoiding her leading to cropping up of differences between them, they said.

"It was also alleged that the accused had sent an SMS to the victim casting aspersions on her character, which proved to be the breaking point and led to Priyadarshini committing suicide on the fateful late evening/night of May 16, 2012, by hanging from the ceiling fan in her hostel room," CBI Spokesperson said here.

He said the SMS was recovered by the Forensic Science Department(FSD), Chennai, from the mobile phone of Priyadarshini after which the CBI filed a charge sheet on November 24, 2017, against Pradeep.

After six years of trial, the trial court convicted Pradeep.

"It is difficult to achieve conviction in cases with abetment to suicide charge because there has to be an irrefutable and strong connection that a particular action led the victim to commit suicide like a letter or a written word asking the victim to take her own life. I would say it is one of the few cases where a court has convicted for abetment to suicide," a former CBI official said.

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