Cesare Tavella used to go for jogging every morning, would come back home, change and leave for work. He usually came back home again late at night. He never cooked and always bought his dinner on his way home. Sometimes he would order home delivery from restaurants such as Pizza Hut.
No one visited Tavella in the last one month.
The 51-year-old Italian citizen, who was gunned down by assailants still to be identified in the capital’s Gulshan area four days ago, was apparently a loner.
Since coming to Bangladesh in May this year, he had been living in a rented flat on road number 54/51 in Gulshan 2.
Abdul Hai, security guard of the apartment complex, said he paid Tk1 lakh per month as rent. He said a temporary domestic help used to come and clean his flat twice a week.
“I cannot remember ever seeing any party or gathering of any sort in Sir’s flat,” Hai told this correspondent.
According to sources, searching his flat, investigators have found some documents, a laptop, a Samsung Galaxy 4 android smartphone, a Nokia handset and Tk3,000 in cash.
This correspondent tried to talk to some of his neighbours but none of them wanted to say anything.
A source involved with the murder probe said Tavella had been working as a project manager with ICCO Cooperation in Bangladesh since May for a monthly salary of Tk12 lakh. His last workplace was Oxfam in Italy.
The source also said that Cesare is the son of Tavella Corrado. His résumé says his permanent address is “ V. Settefoni, 14 Casola, Valsenio, 48010 RA.”
He got a degree in veterinary medicine in 1991 from the Veterinary Fecundity of Rolanga University in Italy.
Besides Italian, Tavella also spoke English, Spanish and French. He had visited more than 12 countries including the Philippines, Sri Lanka, Malaysia, Sudan, South Korea and Tunisia.
Tavella entered the development sector in 1993 and have been managing food security, rural development and livelihood projects for different iNGOs mainly in Asia.
From November 1996 until May 1998, Caesar collaborated with the New Earth as a veterinarian in Somalia and Somaliland, proving a key element in the group of veterinarians.
Another investigator, requesting anonymity, said Tavella had got divorced with his wife two years ago with whom he had a 16-year-old daughter, who lives in Italy.
He had a girlfriend named Gaursia, a German national, who had come to Bangladesh and stayed nearly two weeks with him in June. After that she went back to her workplace in Kyrgyzstan.
This correspondent also contacted Raisa Chowdhury, regional senior communication and marketing manager of ICCO Cooperation in Dhaka, but she declined to share any details about Tavella’s background.