Jammu, Nov. 3 -- The Enforcement Directorate has provisionally attached immovable properties worth Rs.10.66 crore under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) in connection with the Patnitop Hotels land encroachment case, an official said on Monday. The attached properties comprise the land and buildings of Hotel Holiday Inn, Hotel Broadway, Hotel Hollywood and Hotel Mountview situated at Patnitop, Udhampur, an official spokesperson said. The ED investigation began on the basis of an FIR registered by the CBI and the Jammu Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB) against owners or directors of the facilities in the Patni Top area and officials of Patni Top Development Authority (PDA). The FIR mentioned that such facilities 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 filed six chargesheets in 2023 against eight owners (involving six 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. "The ED investigation has 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," said the spokesperson. 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 (approx). Further investigation is under progress....