ED ATTACHED PROPERTY OF RS. 10 CRORES AT PATNITOP HOTELS

Face2News/Jammu

Directorate of Enforcement (ED), Jammu Sub-Zonal Office, has provisionally attached immovable properties worth ₹10.66 Crore (approx.) under the provisions of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA), 2002, in the Patnitop Hotels Land Encroachment case.

The attached properties comprise the land and buildings of Hotel Holiday Inn, Hotel Broadway, Hotel Hollywood and Hotel Mountview situated at Patnitop, District Udhampur, Jammu and Kashmir.

ED investigation was initiated on the basis of 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), that such 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.

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.

ED investigation has revealed that Hotel Holiday Inn, despite having a 
sanctioned building permission, had raised unauthorized 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, unauthorized construction, appurtenant land and the identified property equivalent in value to income derived  from such unauthorized commercial exploitation have been provisionally attached as Proceeds of Crime.

Earlier, ED had issued two Provisional Attachment Orders in 2025, attaching
properties worth ₹30.72 Crore in the same case. With the present attachment, the cumulative value of properties provisionally attached in the case stands at ₹41.38  Crore (approx.). Further investigation is under progress.