By Arun Kumar

New York, April 21 (IANS) An Indian-American student has been indicted for secretly viewing a same-sex encounter involving his roommate, who later jumped to his death from the George Washington Bridge into the Hudson River.

Dharun Ravi, 19, a former student of Rutgers University, could face up to five years in prison if convicted of the top charges in the 15-count indictment announced by Middlesex County prosecutor Bruce Kaplan Wednesday.

Ravi, of Plainsboro, New Jersey, was charged by a grand jury with bias intimidation, invasion of privacy and witness and evidence tampering for using a webcam to spy on Tyler Clementi's dorm room date with another man, New York Daily News reported.

Once Clementi's Sep 22, 2010, suicide became public, Ravi asked witnesses not to implicate him and gave misleading information to investigators, Kaplan said.

According to the indictment, Ravi also knew the target of his webcam would be intimidated because of his sexual orientation.

The 18-year-old Clementi, a freshman in his first weeks at Rutgers, plunged into the Hudson River after Ravi and a second student surreptitiously watched his liaison Sep 19, prosecutors said.

Ravi then tried to broadcast a second meeting between Clementi and his friend two days later, they said.

The indictment said charges against Ravi's friend, Molly Wei, were not presented "at this time".

Wei, 19, is already facing a charge of invasion of privacy. Kaplan did not explain why she was not included in the indictment.

Lawyers for Ravi say the webcam stream was viewed only on a single computer and did not show the men having sex.

The death of Clementi, a promising violinist in his first weeks at college, came amid a string of high-profile suicides of young people who were gay or perceived to be gay.

President Barack Obama and celebrities, including talk show host Ellen DeGeneres and sex columnist Dan Savage, have talked publicly about his death and said that young gays and lesbians need to know that life gets better.