A mysterious gang killed five of them late Sunday night. Three were injured, two of them seriously. What has baffled the police and scared the milkmen is the apparent lack of motive. The milkmen who were attacked are all unrelated, belong to different villages, different castes and do not seem to follow any one political ideology. And they have all been killed in the same way.

Their necks broken and the jaws split. They were all attacked on the left side of the neck, with one blow making them unconscious, and then strangulated. There was not even a scratch on their bodies below the neck, police said. And nothing on their person -- cash or valuables like watches -- were taken away. The bodies were found in three different places.

Sanjay, one of the injured in the hospital, and the only person fit enough to talk, narrated the nightmarishincident.

``We were four of us returning to the village on our cycles around 9.30 on Sunday night. Suddenly, a group of men, armed with lathis, emerged from the sugarcane fields and came in front of the cycles. They had powerful torches which they flashed in our faces, blinding us. They they asked us to put our heads down. At that moment somebody from behind hit me on the left side of my head. I fell unconscious. They did the same thing to the others. I could faintly hear the others writhing in pain. They attacked me again even though I was unconscious. But God saved me,'' said the 20-year-old Sanjay.

The attackers also went through their pockets but did not take anything. ``I had Rs 150 which they left behind. Kalu Ram, the milkman lying unconscious in the next room, was wearing a watch which was not taken. ``I don't know what they were looking for,'' he added.

With the elections round-the-corner, there are accusations and counter-accusations. With the milkmen of villages -- Galhaita, Garhi Dulla andChitchita -- near Baghpat and Baraut, grappling with the fear and the tragedy, supporters of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) and Lok Dal-Congress candidates, descended on the villages. They did not want to miss the opportunity.

``Ajit Singh's (Lok Dal-Congress) supporters came to our Galhaita village in the morning and visited the houses of Mange Ram and Krishan Pal. (Both of them were killed). More than expressing sympathy, they were interested in telling us that the administration under Som Pal (sitting BJP MP) had gone to the dogs,'' said Mange Ram's brother Bijender.

Som Pal's supporters too visited the houses and the three milkmen convalescing in the Dr R K Sharma Nursing Home in Baraut.

The police are paranoid with the elections round the corner, and have absolutely no clue. Inspector General (IG), Meerut Zone, A K Mitra and DIG (Meerut Range) V K Gupta reached Baraut today and held a meeting with the senior officers of the area.

``We are probing all angles but itseems like the handwork of a criminal tribe. Nobody else would use such excessive force for nothing. There are a number of these tribes active here, like the Banwarias, Sapere, Sansis, Ghodiwalas, Kanjars, Nats and Bhatu. We are looking into the history of crimes committed by them to find a pattern similar to this,'' said Additional Superintendent of Police Deepak Sharma.

But the police are not even ruling out business rivalry as a motive. ``Probably some rival milkmen who wanted to supply to the same places and people,'' said Asharam Yadav, Circle Oficer (Baraut).

Meanwhile, the police have constituted a special team headed by Additional SP Sharma to investigate the mysterious case. It comprises CO, Baraut and heads of five police stations. The Special Operation Group (SOG) of the UP police is also investigating.