Every day, Harjap Dhillon wakes up thinking about his best friend, Shiva.
"It just stays there with you, never leaves," he said. "Just the fear of the unknown, what's happened to him."
His van was found parked on the side of a road, still containing some personal belongings including his wallet.
Harjap said Shiva, a Hindu on a student working visa, was planning to marry his girlfriend of four years, who came from an Afghan Muslim family.
But he said he did not have faith in the relationship.
"I know these kinds of things never work out," he said.
The 27-year-old's disappearance was now in the hands of homicide detectives and Detective Acting Inspector Boris Buick told SBS said that the investigation had narrowed.
Harjap Dhillon. (SBS)
"We believe that certainly Shiva's disappeared because of something in his personal background. It certainly doesn't appear to be a random abduction," he said.
"He's come to stop where he's stopped potentially by being pulled over - perhaps by someone that he knew - or recognised someone that he knew."
Recently, credible evidence - believed to be from Shiva's mobile phone - pointed police to Philip Island, in Victoria's south.
Police searched the area last month.
"That would have been the last place where he was alive, if indeed he was alive when taken to Philip Island," Detective Acting Inspector Buick said.
Police were seeking a maroon Toyota sedan which they said belonged to someone Shiva knew.
Shiva's brother flew from India at the time of the disappearance to appeal for information.
Holding on to hope, Shiva's girlfriend was planning a trip to India to spend time with his family.
Meanwhile, Harjap Dhillon waited for answers.
"Obviously there was some suspicious activity, the way he disappeared and stuff," he said.
"He wouldn't have just left."
