ED attaches two hotels worth Rs 14.93 crore in Jammu in Patnitop Development Authority case

New Delhi [India], January 21 : The Enforcement Directorate (ED) has attached two hotels in Jammu and Kashmir worth Rs 14.93 crore in the Patnitop Development Authority (PDA) case, the agency said on Tuesday.
Hotel Trinetra Resorts and Hotel Green Orchid both at Patnitop in Jammu and Kashmir were attached under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA), 2002.
ED's Jammu unit attached these properties as part of its investigation initiated on the basis of First Information Report (FIR) registered by the Central Bureau of Investigation, Jammu against and various owners and directors of the hotels, guest house, resorts, cottages and residences in the Patnitop area, and officials of PDA, that such hotels, guest houses and resorts indulged in commercial use of residential buildings, excess construction beyond approved limits, operating businesses in prohibited areas (dense forests, agricultural areas, residential areas), wherein lapses of compliances were overlooked by PDA officials.
ED investigations revealed that Hotel Trinetra Resorts and Hotel Green Orchid were built beyond the area permitted by the PDA.
"Both had undertaken illegal construction beyond approved limits, and acquired illegally encroached land, while generating revenue from utilizing the same. The illegally acquired land and the revenue so generated constituting the Proceeds of Crime have been attached," added the agency.