Harsha Chovatia, a resident of Krishnanagar society in Naroda, Ahmedabad, had come to Surat to give an invitation to her maternal uncle Dahya Shah at his house in Vishalnagar area for the ceremony scheduled for March 9. On Friday, she left for Navsari to visit her relative's house in a car, but did not reach there, the police said.

Her uncle Dahya had hired a Maruti car (GJ-5CH-3597) for her to visit Navsari on Friday morning.

In the evening, he tried to call her on her cellphone, but found it was switched off. He then called up her relatives in Navsari, who told him she had not arrived.

Dahya then informed her father Tarachand Chovatia, who works in a steel factory in Ahmedabad, about the incident. Tarachand told his brother-in-law that she had made a call to him in the afternoon and said she was in Chikhli.

After Tarachand and Dahya failed to trace Harsha, they lodged a missing complaint with the Salabatpura police on Saturday night.

Dahya also gave the police the name, address and mobile number of car driver Suresh Pachhigars, a resident of Gopipura in Surat.

On Monday afternoon, the woman's parents met the Surat commissioner of police.

Deputy commissioner of police V Chandrashekar said, “We called the car driver on his cellphone and he said he had left the girl in the Juna Thana area in Navsari and then returned to Surat. We have taken his statements and he appears to be innocent. We have asked the Navsari, Valsad and Daman police to assist us in the case.”