According police sources, the two women, residents of SAS Nagar, reported that they drove to a Manimajra discotheque last night. As they came out around 1.30 a.m. they were stopped by two young men who asked them to help them enter the discotheque. The women -- one of whom is married and a lecturer in a college in Roopnagar and the other a student -- said that they reluctantly agreed but, as the disco was closed, they were refused entry.

The two women then drove to another disco on Madhya Marg. As they came out, they saw the two men waiting for them. They accepted the men's invitation to have coffee in a restaurant in Sector 22 and thereafter the foursome drove around the city and Panchkula until 3.30 a.m. at which time the women said they wanted to return home.

The men asked them to stop in front of a house in Sector 11 where they said they "had a little work". At this point, another car pulled up with several men passengers, one of whom was armed with a pistol. The women alleged that the two men might have summoned the others on their mobile phone. They were pushed into the two cars which drove off in different directions.

Grabbing the pistol laying on the dashboard out of the car, the lecturer managed to force open the car-door and fled.