New Delhi, May 16 :    New Delhi, May 16:  It's like X-files being enacted in the Capital and its outskirts. The elusive 'monkey man' has continued with its reign of terror in Ghaziabad, Noida and east and north-east Delhi while the poor and the unlettered are fantasising about its shape, size and abilities. Sample this: a mob spotted the 'monkey man' driving a white Maruti Zen last evening. They fired at the car, but the 'monkey man' drove past. A complaint was lodged at Loni police chowki. Someone had even noted down the number plate which read UP 14J6149. Minutes later, another caller rang up at the same station. This time, the monkey man was spotted driving a white Sumo. But the terrified crowd didn't dare to attack the 'super-acrobat' who, some say, can spot-jump high into the air. Unlike in Ghaziabad, where the monkey-face - or, as some say, bear-faced - creature attacked residents even during day, in Delhi, the shadowy figure has only struck at night, choosing his victims carefully from low-income group people living in jhuggis. On a cool windy night, in a Delhi awash with rains, we went surveying the localities where this mysterious figure had struck. It was eerie as we made our way into the narrow bylanes of east and north-east Delhi. Some were in total darkness. There was not a single human face around as our car turned into the narrow alleys. Only a few dogs barked in the still, ominous silence. We had rolled down our windows hoping to spot the creature if he was hiding in the dark. At 11.45, we stopped in Old Seelampur, where the shadowy figure had gone on a rampage yesterday. Around this time, Nirmala Sharma, a young woman, had spotted a strange creature slinking across her house. He looked like a bear, his eyes glowing like red bulbs and his face criss-crossed with wire. He was jumping in the air like a 'frog', but seconds later had scampered into the dark lane. Petrified, Nirmala had fainted on her balcony. We reached the Loni police chowki at 1.00, passing through uninhabited stretches dotted by a few roadside dhabas. The five men in the small chowki had received two calls about this shadowy creature who drove two different cars. 'I think this creature is nothing but a rumour, fear has psyched the people,' they said, just as the lights went off plunging the area in total darkness. At 1.35, we heard people screaming from a jhuggi at Indrapuri. A few boys standing on the road rushed with sticks towards the house where the scream had come from. It was pitch dark and we had to switch on our flashlights as we entered the house. Inside was a family of five. Eleven-year-old Babita had felt a shadowy figure shaking her hands. Her brother Arjun had also felt a vibration. But her mother, sleeping in the same room, had not seen a thing. Neither did we. At 2, we were stopped at the police check post at the Delhi-Ghaziabad border. All of us were searched thoroughly. Security had been beefed up to nab the mysterious assailant. In Old Seelampur, where people go to sleep early, the last few days have kept all the men awake. Yesterday, the place was teeming with people even at 2.30 am. All the men and boys were out in the narrow lanes, with sticks and cricket bats, to catch the mischief maker who had made an appearance five minutes ago. Women were looking out of balconies and the boys scampering all over the road. The monkey man, they said, was first spotted on a tree and, around the same time, was seen on top of a mandir in a parallel lane. Another girl saw the creature on her terrace. The lightning-fast stalker was seen in this area at three different spots at the same time. The boys feel there are not one but two hairy, robot-operated figures that are spreading terror. We combed the lanes and the mandir for one hour, but saw nothing. The police were smarter. After a search, they produced a puppy that was scampering around in the area. Fear, police say, has stumped even robbers as people are keeping vigil round the clock. The thieves are simply petrified.