Jammu, November 2, 2026 (Yes Punjab News)
The Enforcement Directorate (ED) has provisionally attached immovable properties worth Rs 10.66 crore in connection with the Patnitop Hotels Land Encroachment case, involving alleged unauthorised construction and illegal commercial activities by hotels in Jammu and Kashmir’s Udhampur district.
The attached assets include land and buildings belonging to Hotel Holiday Inn, Hotel Broadway, Hotel Hollywood and Hotel Mountview, an official of the ED’s Jammu Sub-Zonal Office said on Monday.
The properties have been attached under the provisions of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA), 2002, the agency said in a statement.
The ED initiated its investigation on the basis of an FIR registered by the CBI’s Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB), Jammu, against owners and directors of various hotels, guest houses, resorts, cottages and residences in the Patnitop area, as well as officials of the Patnitop Development Authority (PDA).
According to the allegations, several hotels and other establishments were using residential buildings for commercial purposes, carrying out construction beyond approved limits and operating businesses in prohibited areas, including dense forests, agricultural land and residential zones. The alleged violations were facilitated by lapses in compliance oversight by PDA officials, the statement said.
The CBI filed six charge sheets in 2023 against eight hotel owners associated with six hotels and several PDA officials. The cases invoked provisions of the Jammu and Kashmir Prevention of Corruption Act, the Ranbir Penal Code, the Registration of Tourist Trade Act, 1978, and the Jammu and Kashmir Forest Act, 1987.
The ED investigation found that Hotel Holiday Inn had carried out unauthorised construction measuring 7,552.74 square feet beyond its sanctioned building plan, despite having obtained building permission.
It further found that Hotel Broadway, Hotel Hollywood and Hotel Mountview were operating commercially without the requisite permissions to function as hotels.
The agency said the hotel buildings, unauthorised constructions, adjoining land and identified properties equivalent in value to the income generated through the alleged unauthorised commercial exploitation had been provisionally attached as proceeds of crime.
Earlier, the ED had issued two provisional attachment orders in 2025, attaching properties worth Rs 30.72 crore in the same case.
With the latest action, the cumulative value of properties provisionally attached in the case has reached Rs 41.38 crore, the agency said.
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