Ghosh, who was headed toward his D-block, Palam Vihar home in his Maruti Esteem around 9.30 pm, however, managed to escape unharmed. No one was accompanying him.

Though the identity of the youths is yet to be ascertained, the Haryana police have more or less ruled out the possibility that they were either members of the banned United Liberation Front of Assam (ULFA) or were working at ULFA's behest.

Ghosh's son Sanjoy is missing for more than a year. Sanjoy was working on a project at Majuli island in Assam when he is suspected to have been kidnapped and killed by the ULFA.

Shankar Ghosh told The Indian Express: ``I was returning from my office and my home was just another five-minute drive away when a white Maruti car overtook my car, swerved sharply towards the left and blocked the way.''

Two youths jumped out of the Maruti and yanked open the front door of Ghosh's car. Two more pointed pistols at him.

They tried to force Ghosh out of the car, but failed because he had strapped on his safety belt. ``Two of them started shouting, telling each other to shoot me. They spoke in Hindi,'' says Ghosh.

In the ensuing confusion, Ghosh reversed the gear and backed away slightly before speeding past his attackers. He says he heard a pistol shot, but the bullet did not hit his vehicle. Fortunately for him, the youths did not give chase.

Ghosh switched off the headlights in his car, took a detour and reached home a little later. He called up the Gurgaon Police from there and also registered a complaint at the Palam Vihar police chowki. He, however, could not recall the registration number of the white Maruti car.

``The two youths who were yelling, spoke in unaccented Hindi. I know Assamese pretty well and would have picked up their accent,'' says Ghosh, ``they definitely did not speak in Assamese. But then all of them did not speak at the same time.''

There was also nothing striking about their features to suggest that they were from Assam and possibly members of ULFA. Their faces were uncovered and they seemed to be north Indians.

Ghosh does not feel that the youths were following him last night or were aware of his routine. ``I seldom return home at the same time, though I follow the same route.''

What has intrigued Ghosh as well as the Haryana police is the motive behind the attack. ``They did not ask me for money. If they wanted to kill me, they could have done so easily. Their sole objective seemed to be to force me out of the car. Probably they wanted to take away the car,'' says Ghosh.

A senior Haryana police officer, who is investigating the case, concurs with Ghosh's opinion. In the past one month, he says, there have been at least two incidents of car robbery in the Palam Vihar area.

`` We are trying to identify the youths to establish whether they belong to the same group that was behind earlier carjackings,'' the officer says.

Despite his ordeal yesterday, Ghosh bravely says: `It does not bother me, I have a lot of work to do (NFI, an NGO, supports several grass-root social activists and developmental journalism). My family is of course very worried, especially because we still don't know what happened to Sanjoy.''