MADURAI: A Mexican mathematics scholar’s calculations of destroying evidence of his estranged live-in partner’s murder went awry with the Madurai police cracking the crime puzzle on Tuesday picking leads from a littered car gearbox spare part.Manrique Martin (40), a post-doctoral researcher in Mathematics at the Kalasalingam University (Deemed) in Virudhunagar, was arrested after he confessed — during sustained interrogation — to have killed 36-year old Ceule Denise Acosta, also from Mexico, in his hostel quarters. On April 9, Acosta, who had arrived in India last year to learn Mohini Aattam at the Kalamandalam deemed university in Thrissur in Kerala, was reported missing during a visit to Srivilliputhur in the neighbouring Virudhunagar district. Acosta had come to meet Martin to discuss about the custody of five-year old Adila who was born through a live-in relationship that had lasted 20 years. Their relations were strained and the child was to have been given in custody of the mother by the end of the year as per a settlement reached in Mexico. Martin had apparently brought the girl to India in mid-July 2011 to avoid handing over her to Acosta. On April 14, when there was no trace of Acosta for a week, her cousin Tonypressured Martin to lodge a complaint. Initially police registered a ‘missing person’ case. However, the discovery of a partially burnt body of a woman with features matching that of Acosta’s, which was packed in a travel luggage and dumped at Austinpatti situated 15 kms from Madurai, changed the course of the investigation. Police had found the spare part of a Ford Fiesta Fusion car’s gearbox lying near the site where the body was found. “When investigators made casual inquiries with Martin about Acosta’s disappearance, they learnt that he owned a Ford Fiesta Fusion car. Growing suspicious about him, we tracked his mobile phone operations. The cellphone tower records showed that on April 10 he had traveled to Austinpatti. That turned out to be clinching evidence,” South Zone IG Rajesh Das told journalists.The gearbox spare part had fallen from the car’s boot while he was trying to dispose of the travel luggage containing Acosta’s body. “When we grilled Martin, he said he was attached to Adila and did not want to hand her over to Acosta. On April 4, Acosta had visited his quarters as part of her routine twice a month visit. Five days later, during an argument over the girl’s custody, Acosta had hit him. Adila had gone to school at that time. An enraged Martin beat her to death. He had also inflicted cut injuries,” Bala Naga Devi, DIG (Madurai Range) said.The next day he packed her corpse in a suitcase and burnt it at Austinpatti.“We have informed the Mexican Embassy,” Devi added.
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