Jammu ED attaches illegal hotels' land, properties worth Rs 10 crore at Patnitop

Jammu: The ED attached immovable properties worth Rs 10.66 crore in the Patnitop Hotels Land Encroachment case that involved illegal commercial activities and unauthorised construction by hotels in Udhampur district of Jammu and Kashmir, an official said on Monday.

The attached properties comprise land and buildings of Hotel Holiday Inn, Hotel Broadway, Hotel Hollywood and Hotel Mountview, said the official of the Directorate of Enforcement (ED), Jammu Sub-Zonal Office.

The properties were provisionally attached under the provisions of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA), 2002, the ED said in a statement.

The ED investigation was initiated on the basis of an FIR registered by CBI, ACB, Jammu against various owners/Directors of the Hotels/Guest House/Resorts/Cottages /Residences in the Patni Top area and officials of Patni Top Development Authority (PDA), the statement said.

It was alleged that hotels/guest houses/ resorts indulged in commercial use of residential buildings, excess construction beyond approved limits, operating businesses in prohibited areas (dense forests, agricultural areas, residential areas) etc., wherein lapses of compliances were overlooked by PDA officials.

The CBI has filed six charge sheets in 2023 against eight hotel owners (involving 06 hotels) and several PDA officials under the Jammu and Kashmir Prevention of Corruption Act, Ranbir Penal Code, Registration of Tourist Trade Act, 1978, Jammu and Kashmir Forest Act, 1987, said the statement.

The ED investigation revealed that Hotel Holiday Inn, despite having a sanctioned building permission, had raised unauthorised construction measuring 7,552.74 square feet beyond the approved plan.

Further, Hotel Broadway, Hotel Hollywood and Hotel Mountview were commercially operated without the requisite permission for operation as hotels. The hotel buildings, unauthorised construction, appurtenant land and the identified property equivalent in value to income derived from such unauthorised commercial exploitation have been provisionally attached as Proceeds of Crime, the ED said.

Earlier, the ED had issued two Provisional Attachment orders in 2025, attaching properties worth Rs 30.72 crore in the same case. With the present attachment, the cumulative value of properties provisionally attached in the case stands at Rs 41.38 crore, the statement said.

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