SRINAGAR: The Enforcement Department on Tuesday attached two hotels at Patnitop tourist destination in Jammu and Kashmir. In a post on X, the department stated that the Jammu branch has provisionally attached Hotel Trinetra Resorts and Hotel Green Orchid, both at Patnitop (J&K), approximately worth Rs. 14.93 crores in the Patnitop Development Authority (PDA) case under the PMLA, 2002.Patnitop is a tourist destination in Jammu region and many hotels have come up in there as tourist inflow has increased over the yearsAn ED spokesperson said the agency initiated the investigation on the basis of an FIR registered by CBI, ACB Jammu against various owners and directors of housing properties in the Patnitop area. According to the officials of PDA, the proprietors of such properties indulged in the commercial use of residential buildings, excess construction beyond approved limits, and 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, the spokesperson said.Both had undertaken illegal construction beyond approved limits, and acquired illegally encroached land while generating revenue from utilising the same. “The illegally acquired land and the revenue so generated constituting the proceeds of crime have been attached. Further investigation is under progress,” the spokesperson said.
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