The Italian Embassy in Dhaka received the body of slain Italian citizen Cesare Tavella, yesterday morning, and an Emirates flight carrying the body left Dhaka for Italy last night.
Authorities at Dhaka Medical College Hospital (DMCH) handed over Tavella’s body to two consular attaches of the embassy, Giovanni Cianni and Danil Paolo Notaro, around 9:30am after completing all formalities. Tavella’s death certificate was also handed over to the embassy officials.
Detective Branch (DB) Inspector Zihad Hossain, also the investigation officer of Tavella murder case, was present at the DMCH at the time.
A red ambulance of Homebound global transportation service took Tavella’s body to the Italian embassy first, and then to Homebound’s storage facility.
In the evening, a Homebound vehicle took the body to Dhaka airport, and a flight of Emirates Airlines left Dhaka for Italy carrying the body around 9pm, said Assistant Superintendent of Armed Police Battalion (APBn) Nur-e-Alam Siddique.
Meanwhile, Home Minister Asaduzzaman Khan and Inspector General of Police AKM Shahidul Haque gave conflicting statements regarding the investigation of the case once again.
The home minister said he was hopeful about the case being solved soon, while the IGP said it might need some more time.
The home minister said the investigation of foreigners’ murder and Khijir Khan as well as attempted murder of a priest was nearly finished and the reports would be revealed soon.
Tavella, 51, was the project manager of PROOFS, a food security project of the Netherlands-based ICCO Cooperative.
He was shot on Road 90 in Gulshan 2 area in the capital on September 27 evening. When locals took hime to the nearby United Hospital around 7pm, the doctors pronounced him dead.
Just five days after Tavella was killed, Japanese citizen Hoshi Kunio was shot dead by three assailants. He was buried in Rangpur city on early Tuesday.