Rumours fanned by a local newspaper that Shah Rukh Khan and Salman Khan were part of the India-ASEAN car rally led to a virtual stampede en route and delayed the rally by several hours after it formally rolled out Tuesday.

Thousands of men, women and children swarmed the rally route, blocking the cars, peering into the vehicles and banging on car doors in a bid to trace the two missing matinee idols who were of course not there.

Some of these people had been standing along the route since the crack of dawn at several places as the procession of cars wound its way through picturesque country leading to the famous Kaziranga wildlife sanctuary, the home of the one-horned rhino.

At several places, overenthusiastic people, many of them carrying Indian flags and welcome placards, cheered the 60 cars as they traversed the main highway linking Assam to the rest of the northeast.

Indian Army helicopters kept a close watch on the rallyists as they passed through what was described as "insurgency-affected" areas that are home to well-armed separatist rebels.

The rally, which was flagged off by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh in Guwahati Monday, will cross the border into Myanmar Wednesday.