Suspect ‘confesses’ to killing Italian national Tavella in Dhaka

One of four suspects, arrested over Italian citizen Cesare Tavella’s murder in Dhaka last month, has reportedly confessed before a Dhaka court to his involvement in the crime.

Metropolitan Magistrate Mahbubur Rahman on Monday granted police eight days for interrogating the three others.

These three are Rasel Chowdhury alias ‘Chakti Rasel’, Minhajul Arefin Rasel alias ‘Bhagne Rasel’ aka ‘Kala Rasel’, and Shakhawat Hossain alias ‘Sharif’.

The case investigation officer did not seek time to grill suspect Tamjid Ahmmed Rubel alias ‘Shooter Rubel’ as he had given the confessional statement, Court Police’s Crime, Information and Prosecution Division Assistant Commissioner Miras Uddin told bdnews24.com.

No lawyers represented the four who police said were arrested on Sunday at different parts of the capital.

Miras Uddin said the judge sent Rubel to jail after his statement was recorded at the office of Metropolitan Magistrate Shahriar Mahmud Adnan.

Motorcycle-riding assailants shot dead charity worker Tavella at Dhaka’s diplomatic zone Gulshan on Sep 28 evening.

The Italian national worked at a Netherlands-based NGO and lived alone in a flat at Gulshan.

Police on Monday told the media that they arrested four suspects in the murder case and seized the motorcycle used in the attack.

They claimed Tavella’s murder in the diplomatic enclave was aimed at putting the government under international pressure.

The assailants’ plan was to ‘murder any white person’ to lead the other countries to believe that ‘Bangladesh was not safe for foreigners’, the law-enforcers said.

Police further claimed that Chowdhury, Rasel and Rubel had taken part in the killing for a specific sum of money following orders from a so-called ‘Borho Bhai’ (big brother) and they had used Sharif’s motorcycle.