The killing near the capital's diplomatic zone was the first in a wave of attacks to be claimed by the Islamic State group, and was followed days later by the gunning down of a Japanese farmer in northern Bangladesh.
Bangladesh authorities rejected the IS claim of responsibility, saying the group had no presence in the country.
The government and police say homegrown militants are responsible for the deaths of nearly 50 secular activists, foreigners and religious minorities killed over the last three years.
They say the deaths are part of a plot to destabilize the country, and have blamed the main opposition Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) and its Islamist ally.
Deputy commissioner of Dhaka Metropolitan Police Sheikh Nazmul Alam said seven people had been charged with the murder of 50-year-old Italian Cesare Tavella, including two BNP officials.
“We submitted the chargesheet against the seven on Monday. Those who are charged include Abdul Quayum who masterminded the attack,” Alam told AFP, referring to a senior BNP official who is believed to be living in exile in Malaysia.
He said the attack was part of a plot “to tarnish the image of the country and destabilize it”.
Quayum denied the charge, telling the Daily Star newspaper he was being victimized because of his political affiliation.
BNP spokesman Ruhul Kabir Rizvi said the charge was “false and politically motivated”.
“It is an attempt to hide the real killers,” Rizvi told AFP.
Bangladesh this month launched a nationwide crackdown on local jihadist groups, arresting more than 11,000 people, under pressure to act on the spate of killings.
But many rights groups allege the arrests were arbitrary or were a way to silence political opponents of the government.
Experts say a government crackdown on opponents, including a ban on the country's largest Islamist party following a protracted political crisis, has pushed many towards extremism.
Dhaka police chief Asaduzzaman Khan said after Tavella's death that his murder was intended to “embarrass the government” and prove the country was unsafe for foreigners.
International schools closed temporarily after the murders and embassies restricted their diplomats' movements, while Australia's cricket team cancelled a planned tour over security concerns.
CRIME
Bangladesh official charged over Italian’s murder
Bangladesh police have charged seven people including a senior opposition official over the murder of an Italian aid worker last September, an officer said on Tuesday
POLITICS
President of Italy’s Liguria region resigns after arrest over corruption probe
The president of the northwestern Italian region of Liguria resigned on Friday nearly three months after his arrest as part of a sweeping corruption investigation involving Genoa port operations.
Giovanni Toti, 55, has been under house arrest since May as part of an investigation that has also implicated nine others, including the former head of the Genoa Port Authority, one of the largest in the country.
Contacted by AFP, a regional civil servant confirmed media reports of Toti’s resignation, who had been suspended from his post since his arrest.
Toti, a former member of the European Parliament elected as Liguria’s president in 2015 and again in 2020, has said he is innocent of accusations of bribe-taking.
Prosecutors allege he accepted 74,100 euros in funds for his election campaign between December 2021 and March 2023 from two prominent local businessmen, Aldo Spinelli and his son Roberto, in return for various favours.
These allegedly included efforts to privatise a public beach and speeding up the 30-year lease renewal for a Genoa port terminal for a Spinelli family-controlled company, which was approved in December 2021.
READ ALSO: Italy’s Liguria regional president arrested in corruption probe
Toti is a former journalist who was close to late PM Silvio Berlusconi. He is no longer aligned with a party but was backed by a right-wing coalition in the last election.
In a resignation letter published on the RaiNews website, Toti did not mention the accusations against him but instead listed his accomplishments as president and thanked his supporters.
“After three months of house arrest and the subsequent suspension from the office that voters have entrusted to me twice, I have decided that the time has come to tender my irrevocable resignation,” Toti wrote, according to RaiNews.
“I leave a region in order.”
Toti had more than a year remaining in his tenure as regional president. Under Italian law, new elections will have to be called within three months.
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