By Shayna Jacobs
DNAinfo Reporter/Producer
MANHATTAN SUPREME COURT — A limo driver accused of raping an NYU law student and then conspiring to have her killed so she could not testify against him pleaded guilty to the heinous plot on Tuesday, prosecutors said.
Rajeev Kumar, 31, was accused of picking up the victim outside of downtown Manhattan nightclub SOB's in August 2000 and raping her in his limo. It took nearly a decade to match him to the sex assault, but authorities were able to crack the cold case broke when Kumar was ordered to submit a DNA sample to authorities following a 2009 arson conviction in Queens.
Kumar admitted Tuesday to conspiring to have the rape victim killed while he was incarcerated at Rikers Island. He allegedly approached an undercover officer while in jail.
Kumar will be sentenced on June 28 to at least 15 years in prison and will have to register as a sex offender, prosecutors said.
"DNA is the single most important crime-fighting tool available to law enforcement today," Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus Vance Jr. said in a statement.
Vance has been pressing for a chance in state law that would mandate a DNA sample be collected from all convicted criminals, whether or not they're convicted of felonies. The bill may go to a vote by the state senate in the current session. Vance calls the move a "cost-effective" and "accurate" way to solve and prevent crime.
Currently only defendants convicted of felonies and some misdemeanors must submit DNA samples.
