ITALIAN AID WORKER KILLING : No clue, no suspect identified yet [ Tritiyo Matra News ]

ITALIAN AID WORKER KILLING : No clue, no suspect identified yet

Local October 01, 2015

The Detective Branch investigation committee on Wednesday visited the spot at Gulshan diplomatic enclave where Italian international aid worker Cesare Tavella was shot dead on Monday, but failed to find any clue to the murder.
Gulshan police station officer-in-charge Sirajul Islam, who recorded the murder case, however, claimed that hired killers shot the man.
Rapid Action Battalion director intelligence Lieutenant Colonel Abul Kalam Azad, who is conducting shadow investigation into the killing, also said the shooters were professional killers as none of their bullets missed target.
The intelligence agencies failed to identify any suspect examining the footages they collected from closed-circuit television cameras.
‘Two CCTV cameras were installed at nearby Delta Life Tower facing the spot and the footages we have collected from the management only showed few people escaping from the place,’ Abul Kalam said.
‘Now, we are using informants to trace shooters instead of technology-based tracking system,’ he said.
Police and intelligence agencies are analysing CCTV footages around the possible exits and entries of the killers.
Witnesses said that the
shooting took place at about 6:20pm and two shooters on pillion of a motorbike escape though Road-83 heading to Saudi embassy and Australian High Commission.
Three footages from Saudi embassy’s CCTV showed that three motorbikes passed at about 6:45pm and 6:52pm and 7:04pm and the first two were carrying one on pillion each and the third one had no co-rider.
None of the faces could be identified, said the investigators.
‘Another footage showed him [Cesare Tavella] crossing bridge [connecting Baridhara with Gulshan] and later he was found dead,’ Sirajul said.
According to police investigators, Cesare Tavella was coming from American International School at Baridhara after swing or gym minutes before 6:00pm.
The school management told police that Cesare used to get campus facilities —only gym and swimming pool — often and on Monday he was returning from the campus after swimming.
Police collected relevant evidence and information from the school management.
When approached on Wednesday, the school superintendent, John Gates, declined to comment.
‘He was no way involved in the our school other than using facilities, although the management received phone calls from US embassy and United Nations, and even from police immediately after the shooting as he was carrying the campus member card,’ another official at the school said.
On Monday evening, miscreants shot dead the 51-year-old aid worker beside the boundary wall of the official residence of Bangladesh Bank governor on Road-90 close to different foreign missions and installation, and residences of diplomats of the Netherlands, Australia, India, Germany, Egypt and Saudi Arab.
The Detective Branch of Dhaka Metropolitan Police on Wednesday formally took the charge of investigation into case filed by former Dutch diplomat Heleen Saaf van der Beek, now the country chief of Interchurch Cooperative for Development Cooperation, where Cesare Tavella was working.
Earlier the case was being investigated by Gulshan police station.
The Detective Branch formed another 11-member committee led by the DB (east) deputy commissioner Mahbubur Rahman to assist the investigation committee formed by the police headquarters on Tuesday.
‘It is an internal committee to help the investigators,’ said DMP deputy commissioner (media and public relations) Muntasirul Islam.
On Tuesday, the police headquarters instituted an investigation committee led by Dhaka Metropolitan Police joint commissioner (Detective Branch) Monirul Islam for the investigation and also formed a special team of skilled officials selected from different agencies and led by Criminal Investigation Department special superintendent Rezaul Haider to assist the investigation committee.
The detective investigators on Wednesday morning mocked the murder incident up at the crime scene.
The investigators were also verifying the allegations of witnesses that street lamp around the place were switched off during the shooting.
In the afternoon, Rapid Action Battalion director general Benazir Ahmed visited the spot and told reporters, ‘This is not the first that such type of crime has taken place in the country and similar incidents have taken place in neighbouring countries.’
‘We are investigating focusing numerous aspects…In fact, we are assisting the Detective Branch since they are investigating into the case and we are doing a shadow investigation,’ he said.
He said that they were investigating whether there was any affiliation with ‘fanatic’ quarters.
In reply to media queries, the ICCO replied Cesare was an experienced aid worker, who worked with a number of international development organisations in various countries.
The ICCO were not aware whether he had any disputes at personal or official level.
The international no-government organisation refrained from commenting on whether he travelled outside the country.
Dhaka Medical College staff said that the body was not taken by Cesare’s organisation or the embassy till Wednesday evening though his post-mortem examination was conducted on Tuesday afternoon.