A 31-year-old ex-convict allegedly raped his 60-year-old aunt in I.Polavaram mandal of East Godavari district following which he was arrested, police said on Wednesday.
The irate villagers bashed up the accused identified as K Nagababu and handed him over to the police on Tuesday.
The victim, a widow, resided alone in her house in the village while her daughter stayed in Hyderabad.
The accused, who was allegedly in an inebriated state, committed the heinous crime and fled the scene after sprinkling chilli powder on the victim as well as inside the house to avoid detection by sniffer dogs.
Nagababu also stole some cash from the victim's house.
Nagababu got the chilli powder idea from a fellow inmate in jail, while he served a term in a theft case, police said.
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Though they were related, families of the victim and the accused had a running dispute for some years now.
East Godavari district Superintendent of Police Adnan Nayeem Asmi visited the village on Tuesday and spoke to the villagers.
Later in the evening, police arrested the accused.
He was remanded to judicial custody on Wednesday.