My 5-year relationship ended because his family refused an intercaste marriage. 8 months later he’s engaged to my friend from the same group

I (27F) live in Pune and was in a relationship with a guy (28M) for almost 5 years. We met at our first IT job and were part of the same office friend group. Initially we just talked as friends in the group, but he started messaging me on WhatsApp and was very persistent. Eventually we started dating and everyone in our group knew.

I’m naturally a very social person, but after we got into a relationship he became very controlling. He would check my WhatsApp and emails and question who I talked to. Even if the conversations were normal, he would ask me to stop talking to certain male friends. To avoid arguments I slowly distanced myself from many people and mostly talked only to him.

After about 4 years together, we started talking seriously about marriage. He said he wanted to tell his parents. When he did, they refused because we are from different castes. Even my parents tried speaking with them, but they said they would never agree to an intercaste marriage.

After that he said he couldn’t marry without his parents’ blessing. He even said that if he had known his parents were this strict, he wouldn’t have started the relationship. Around the same time I had just rejoined the IT industry after a 2-year gap, so I was earning less than him. He also mentioned that as a concern about future expenses.

We eventually broke up and he suggested we remain friends. I was heartbroken, but my parents supported me and told me it’s better to move on.

Now 8 months later, he is engaged to another girl from the same office friend group. She used to be my friend but stopped talking to me after the breakup. They still work together and she openly posts pictures with him, which he never allowed me to do during our relationship.

The most confusing part is that the reason he gave for our breakup was that his parents wouldn’t allow an intercaste marriage. But the girl he’s engaged to is also from a different caste.

After the breakup I also realized that because I had distanced myself from people during the relationship, I lost most of the friends we had in common.

I keep wondering if I did something wrong and why someone would stay in a relationship for 5 years and end it like this.