An alleged criminal who had raped a minor girl in Malda district around six months ago and his associates lobbed bombs at her home on Sunday night to mount pressure on her family to withdraw the complaint.

The girl’s family alleged that police had not taken any action against the accused man who was involved in other criminal cases also.

Sources said the accused had kidnapped the girl in September last year and when she returned after two days, a rape complaint was lodged at the local police station.

“Since then, he and his associates have been threatening us to withdraw the complaint. As we did not give in to their threats, they are organising attacks on us,” said a family member of the girl.

Around one-and-a-half months ago, the accused fired at the girl’s mother who suffered injuries.

“One more complaint was filed but the police didn’t take any action. The accused is still roaming free,” said a local resident.

When Sunday night’s attack happened, the girl was not at home. “We had shifted her (the girl) to another place as we suspected that he wanted to kill her,” said the family member.

The police, however, said they couldn’t find any evidence of a bomb attack on the girl’s house.