A woman has been raped by her neighbor while she was sleeping in her house in Garuda Municipality 10 in Rautahat district on Wednesday night. Locals have caught red-handed 48-year-old Achchhelal Thakur while he was in the act of raping a woman, 28, at 11 pm yesterday. The neighbors came to rescue her after hearing loud screams the victim gave out when she was advanced by Thakur. The locals have handed the rapist over to the police after arrest. According to Chandu Sahani, neighbor Thakur barged into the room of the victim by breaking the door when her husband was away and other members of the family were sleeping. Police have launched an investigation into the incident after taking the alleged rapist into the custody of the Area Police Office, Garuda, said Police Inspector Santulal Prasad Jaiswar. As many as five rape incidents took place in the last two months. According to the records maintained by the Area Police Office, Garuda, four accused have landed in the police net so far while the remaining four perpetrators are still at large. The cases of rape incidents have gone up due to the lack of stringent punishment against the perpetrators, said human rights activist Renu Gupta.