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Australian tourist acted strangely, muder accused tell court

NAT77National/CrimeAustralian tourist acted strangely, muder accused tell courtPanaji, Oct 13 IANS The three pub staffers accused in last week's murder of 65-year-old John Kelly have claimed that the Australian tourist's behaviour was very unpredictable on the fateful morning he died. In their respective bail applications filed before a trial court in Goa, the three accused - Jagat Pradhan, Manab Basak and Jaykrishna Das - claimed in unison that Kelly's behaviour on the day he died, Oct 8, was very unusual. "He placed a knife on the stomach of one of the kitchen staff. He then laughed and said 'Sorry mate, relax'," claim the trio in their applications, adding that Kelly had then ordered a round of beers for the bar's guests and placed a Rs.500 note on the table. "When the guests refused the drinks, the foreigner suddenly became aggressive and pointed the knife at my neck and held my hair at the same time," the bail application adds. The bail application also refutes the police theory that no knife was involved in the scuffle that ended with Kelly receiving internal injuries, which in turn led to his death. "The foreigner was in a highly drunken state and was brandishing a knife," the application claims, adding that the police were strangely silent on the issue. The application also claims that Kelly, after leaving the Calangute bar following the scuffle had in fact returned in a police jeep to search for his wallet. According to the police version officially relayed to the media on Oct 9, Deputy Superintendent of Police Gundu Naik had claimed that the police had learnt about Kelly only when he was admitted to the Goa Medical College located near Panaji, where the Australian later died. John Kelly's death last week had the Goa Police in a tizzy, after the foreigner died several hours after suffering intern injuries in a scuffle with employees of Club City bar and restaurant on the morning of Oct 8. --Indo-Asian News Servicemaya/rn/vm352 Words13102209