A court here on Tuesday indicted seven people including an opposition party leader for the murder of Italian aid worker Cesare Tavella in an ambush claimed by the Islamic State.
Judge Kamrul Hossain Molla set a preliminary trial hearing for November 24.
Molla ordered Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) joint secretary M.A. Qayum, his brother Abdul Matin and five others to stand trial for last year's killing of 50-year-old Tavella in Dhaka.
Qayum planned the murder of Tavella as part of a conspiracy to kill any white-skinned foreigner to create trouble for the government, according to the chargesheet.
Matin coordinated the murder and hired three assassins to kill a "white man", it said.
The BNP has condemned Qayum's indictment saying it was politically motivated. Qayum and another of the accused are on the run.