Date:31/12/2007 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2007/12/31/stories/2007123158321300.htm

National

Regretting her marriage, she drove away

Anu Solanki had no idea that her disappearance would create the kind of reaction it did

Anu Solanki

CHICAGO: Anu Solanki wanted out of her marriage; so she met a friend at a Chicago-area forest preserve on Christmas eve, rode in a car for what she hoped would be a new life in southern California.

Only days later, she told investigators, did she learn from an online report that her disappearance had made headlines and prompted a costly search by authorities, who feared that she might have drowned in a river that runs through the forest preserve.

“She expressed regret and embarrassment,” Cook County sheriff’s office spokesman Bill Cunningham said on Saturday, a day after Ms. Solanki flew back to Chicago from Los Angeles and spoke to investigators for several hours. “She claims she in no way meant to deceive people into thinking she fell into the Des Plaines River.”

The costly search for her included divers and a helicopter. Her family also handed out flyers with Ms. Solanki’s picture.

“Obviously we’re upset that so many individuals have had to work on this for so many days and that so many resources were spent on it,” Mr. Cunningham said. “But she maintained she had no idea it would create the kind of reaction it did.”

Police will meet prosecutors soon to determine if Ms. Solanki broke any laws, but Mr. Cunningham declined to say what charges she could possibly face.

“The first thing you’d think of is making a false report. But she didn’t make a false report,” he said.

“It’s not a crime to deceive your husband and family.”

The discovery of a Honda Civic the 24-year-old Ms. Solanki drove to work the day she went missing heightened concerns for her welfare.

The doors were open and the keys inside.

She told investigators she left the car because it belonged to her husband.

“She didn’t want to have any of his possessions and wanted to completely break with him,” Mr. Cunningham said.

“She indicated that she was not a victim of abuse in their relationship. She just said she regretted getting married and wanted out of the marriage.”

A message left on Saturday for her husband, Dignesh Solanki, was not returned. — AP