Seven people, including a senior opposition official, have been charged by the Bangladeshi police for the September 2015 murder of an Italian aid worker.
The deputy commissioner of the Dhaka Metropolitan Police, Sheikh Nazmul Alam, confirmed that seven people, including two Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) officials were charged with the murder of 50-year-old Italian Cesare Tavella.
"We submitted the charge sheet against the seven on Monday. Those who are charged include Abdul Quayum, who masterminded the attack," The Guardian quoted him, as saying.
He added that the attack was part of a plot "to tarnish the image of the country and destabilise it".
The killing of Tavella near Dhaka's diplomatic zone was the first in a wave of attacks that were claimed by Islamic State. Days later a shooting of a Japanese farmer took place in northern Bangladesh.
As the news surfaced about the presence of Islamic State in Bangladesh, authorities rejected the claim, saying the group had no presence in the country.
The government has said that homegrown militants were responsible for the deaths of nearly 50 secular activists, foreigners and religious minorities in the country killed over the last three years.
Meanwhile, BNP leader Quayum has denied the charge and instead said that was being victimised because of his political affiliations.
BNP spokesman Ruhul Kabir Rizvi echoing similar sentiments said the charge was "false and politically motivated"
Following the spate of killings in the country, Bangladesh authorities this month launched a nationwide crackdown on local jihadi groups, arresting more than 11,000 people.
But many rights groups say the arrests were arbitrary or were a way to silence the government's political opponents.
