Syed Irfan was heading home after work when he was attacked

BENGALURU: A 30-year-old bodybuilder and gym trainer was hacked to death by three unidentified assailants in Shivajinagar past midnight on Monday.

Syed Irfan, a resident of Chandni Chowk Road in the locality, also operated an aquarium shop, police said.

He was heading home after work around 12.15am when the killers set upon him near Old Cemetery Road. “Three men wearing helmets and riding two motorcycles accosted him,” a police officer said. “They attacked him with machetes. Irfan made a futile attempt to escape.”

The three assailants sped away from the scene within minutes, leaving Irfan for dead in a pool of blood. Irfan managed to call his wife Rohini on his cellphone and inform her about the attack. Family members rushed to the spot and took him to Bowring Hospital, but doctors there declared him dead on arrival.

“Irfan also had a small-time financing business in Shivajinagar,” the officer said. “Initial investigations revealed that he recently had a tussle with some people over a girl.”

Police are looking at all possible motives for the crime, he said, adding that Irfan, who was wellknown in the neighbourhood as a bodybuilder, had been involved in settling monetary disputes. Shivajinagar police have formed special teams to nab his killers.

