Thank you gentlemen for your views which are exactly inline with what I was thinking.
Yesterday I posted a picture of the wheel-well showing the speed-sensor assembly partially. Today morning I put on my C.S.I. cap and decided to dig deeper. Jacked up the front left wheel, turned the steering to extreme right and got under the car with my D90 in hand. Here are my detailed observations and views.
Here's a pic of the speed-sensor assemblies from yesterday on which I have marked 5 points A-B-C-D-E.
The point A is the highest point in the wheel-well, where another connector takes the signal to some ECU under the hood. Point A has a sort of a clip which attaches the sensor-assembly to the car's body.
Moving downwards, point-B is a rubber-part with a groove. This again attaches to the car's body. There is a U shaped clip on the body-wall where you have to press the rubber-part's goove. Point-C is similar, the difference being it attaches to a point towards the upper portion of the shock-absorber. Please note the rubber sleeve between points B and C, apparently provided to protect the wire from rubbing against the shock-absorber.
The wire goes further down. Point D is a plastic clip that attaches to the lower portion of the shock-absorber. The wire continues further down and towards the wheel and ends behind the brake-disc.
That's the point-E - the end point of the speed-sensor assembly - which is indirectly attached to the wheel from behind the brake-disc. It uses a bolt to connect the point E to the portion behind the brake-disc.
A closer look at point-E
A closer look at points B & C and the U-shaped clips for holding the assembly at points B & C.
A clearer picture of point-D.
Now I had the big picture about the speed-sensor assembly, where it is located and at how many points it is attached to the frame. I looked at the damaged sensor assembly and realized that the damage is in the section between point C and D. Now the question was - what exactly went wrong?
Zen and the art of motorcyle maintenance has one beautiful statement -
"..just stare at the machine. There’s nothing wrong with that. Just live with it for a while. Watch it the way you watch a line when fishing and before long, as sure as you live, you’ll get a little nibble, a little fact asking in a timid, humble way if you’re interested in it. "
I took a lot of pictures, came out, looked at the pictures, went down there again, took more pictures and in general spent a good time oberseving. Checked the slack in the wire between points C and D. Didn't seem excessive. No part of that section is touching anything or rubbing against anything.
Next line of thought: May be Mahindra's redesigned the speed-sensor assembly and may be the new one (installed in my car) is shorter and has less slack. Picked up the old damaged sensor assembly and traced it against the new one. It is of the same length. The lengths of various sections between two points also matched. So, no new design.
Next line of thought: Next line of thought: May be the assembly came loose at any one or more of the 5 attaching points. Removed the point-C from the U-shaped clip and BINGO! Now with the wire clamped at point B & D, the slack in the wire was more and it was touching the inner side of the tyre at the exact same spot where the wires of the previous sensors were damaged! Tried to find some evidence supporting my theory and BINGO again! On the inner side of the tyre, although there is no damage, there are signs of something rubbing. Look at the lettering in the following snap. The lower portion of the letters is clean. That means something was rubbing against it!
So, ladies and gentleman, here's the culprit. Here's the point-C again.
Looks like the assembly came off at this point OR may be it was not connected correctly when the vehicle went for service/repairs last time. The loose wire rubbed against the tyre and eventually got sheared causing the ABS+ESP malfunction.
One mystery solved!
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BTW, its Duma's b'day today! It was exactly one year back, I got the delivery.
Dear Duma, you have got some lousy nurses and doctors at the clinic. Sorry about that! Hope you are at least happy with your owner!
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EDIT: The thread has crossed 1 lakh views this week! Thank you everyone for being part of the journey and helping me with a lot of questions and doubts.