Kolkata, Sep 22 (IANS): The wife of an Indian Army soldier at Bagdogra in West Bengal's Darjeeling district has gone absconding after duping the wives of 17 other Indian army personnel of around Rs 1.5 crore.

The duped wives of the Indian army have filed a complaint against the accused Hema Nagarba Tamang and police have started an investigation in the matter.

The accused woman is originally a resident of Gairi Gaon though she recently started staying at a rented accommodation at Bagdogra near Siliguri in north Bengal.

Her husband is currently posted at Jammu & Kashmir. According to police sources, after she came to Bagdogra, she started running a textiles shop in the area. Thereafter, she started targeting the members of the unit off Army Wives Welfare Association (AWWA) for duping money. She started befriending the AWWA members and started borrowing money from them in amounts ranging between Rs 2 lakhs to Rs 10 lakhs claiming that she wants to expand the facilities of her textiles shop.

"She promised them to return money along with interest soon. However, suddenly some members of AWWA noticed that she had gone missing from her residence and the textile shop owned by her was closed for quite some time. They smelt some foul game and contacted the local police station," an investigating official said.

Commissioner of Siliguri Metropolitan Police C Sudhakar said that a case has been filed in the matter and an investigation has started. The AWWA office has been communicated about the details. The commanding officer of the husband of the absconding accused has also been informed about the development.