The Enforcement Directorate has provisionally attached immovable properties worth approximately Rs 10.66 crore belonging to four hotels in Patnitop in Jammu and Kashmir under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act. The action was announced by the agency’s Jammu Sub-Zonal Office on 2 November 2026.
The properties form part of Hotel Holiday Inn, Hotel Broadway, Hotel Hollywood and Hotel Mountview. According to the Enforcement Directorate, the attachment relates to alleged unauthorised construction, commercial operation of buildings without the required hotel permissions, and commercial use of properties in areas where such activities were restricted.
This is the third phase of provisional attachments in the J&K’s Patnitop Hotel case.
With the latest action the total value of properties provisionally attached in the investigation now stands at approximately Rs 41.38 crore.
The Enforcement Directorate has stated that further investigation is continuing.
The case began with a First Information Report registered by the Central Bureau of Investigation’s Anti-Corruption Branch in Jammu. The FIR was filed on 1 August 2020 after the Jammu and Kashmir High Court directed a detailed probe into alleged irregularities in the Patnitop Development Authority area. The High Court had taken up the matter in a public interest petition in 2018. In an order dated 31 December 2019 a Division Bench of the High Court examined reports submitted by the Patnitop Development Authority about land use, construction violations and encroachments by hotels and guest houses.
The court recorded figures of alleged unauthorised construction at several properties. One of those figures, 7,552.74 square feet at Hotel Holiday Inn, has been specifically cited by the Enforcement Directorate in its November 2026 press release. The High Court also noted allegations of misuse of agricultural land, green-buffer land and commercial operation of properties without proper authorisation. It directed the Central Bureau of Investigation to examine the grant of building permissions, issuance of hotel and guest-house licences, encroachments on forest and public land, and the role of officials responsible for enforcement.
The Central Bureau of Investigation registered the FIR invoking provisions relating to criminal misconduct by public servants, criminal conspiracy, criminal breach of trust and certain forest and electricity-related offences under the laws then applicable in Jammu and Kashmir. The agency later filed six charge sheets in October 2023. These concerned eight hotel owners associated with six hotels and several officials of the Patnitop Development Authority, including former chief executive officers and Khilaf Warzi inspectors.
The Enforcement Directorate registered its own investigation under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act after the Central Bureau of Investigation case. The agency’s case identification number is ECIR/JMSZO/02/2021, registered on 13 December 2021. The money-laundering probe proceeds on the basis that alleged unauthorised commercial exploitation of properties generated income that could constitute proceeds of crime.
In the November 2026 attachment the Enforcement Directorate has drawn a distinction between the four hotels. At Hotel Holiday Inn it has identified construction of 7,552.74 square feet beyond the sanctioned building plan, even though the hotel had obtained building permission. At Hotel Broadway, Hotel Hollywood and Hotel Mountview the agency has alleged that the establishments were commercially operated as hotels without the requisite permissions.
The attached properties include hotel buildings, unauthorised construction, adjoining land and other property identified as equivalent in value to income derived from the alleged unauthorised commercial activity. The Enforcement Directorate has not released individual valuations for each of the four hotels or a detailed breakdown of the Rs 10.66 crore figure.
A provisional attachment under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act is not a final confiscation. The order remains subject to adjudication by the competent authority and any further legal proceedings. The allegations themselves remain matters for the courts to examine on the basis of evidence placed before them.
Earlier in the investigation the Enforcement Directorate had attached land and buildings of hotels that, according to the agency, were constructed beyond the area permitted by the Patnitop Development Authority. In the June 2025 action the agency specifically stated that the hotels had generated revenue from the use of the properties while the construction exceeded approved limits.
The High Court proceedings of 2019 had already recorded concerns about the manner in which building violations were being handled. The court noted that orders relating to major violations had been challenged before the Special Tribunal in several cases and that favourable orders had in some instances allowed compounding of violations described as non-compoundable. The court also recorded that compounding fees had not been deposited in certain cases and that additional construction had taken place even after earlier proceedings.
The same High Court order referred to instances of electricity and water connections obtained for domestic use being employed for commercial purposes, and to licences issued for guest houses being used to operate hotels. These observations formed part of the background material that led to the direction for a Central Bureau of Investigation enquiry.
The Central Bureau of Investigation’s charge sheets of October 2023 named public servants as well as private individuals. Searches conducted during that investigation, according to contemporary newspaper reports, recovered documents and information about fixed deposits and immovable properties. The filing of charge sheets placed the allegations and supporting material before the competent courts; it did not by itself amount to a finding of guilt.
In a separate development related to one of the earlier attachments, the Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh High Court granted interim protection in April 2025 in proceedings concerning Hotel Trinetra Resorts. Petitioners in that matter had sought quashing of the Enforcement Directorate’s investigation, arguing that alleged building-permission violations did not by themselves establish a money-laundering offence and that a demolition order relating to the unauthorised portion of construction had been set aside by the Tribunal.
The High Court stayed proceedings under the challenged Enforcement Case Information Report against those petitioners until the next date of hearing. That interim order was specific to the petitioners in that case and does not apply automatically to the four hotels attached in November 2026.
The Enforcement Directorate’s latest press release does not name the individual owners or directors of Hotel Holiday Inn, Hotel Broadway, Hotel Hollywood or Hotel Mountview. It also does not provide the exact period during which the three hotels are alleged to have operated without hotel permissions, nor does it disclose the revenue figures attributed to each establishment. Ownership details, building-permission numbers, tourism registration records and the precise calculation used to arrive at the attachment value form part of the underlying provisional attachment order and supporting material that have not been released in the public statement.
The investigation continues. The Enforcement Directorate has stated that it is examining further aspects of the case arising from the original Central Bureau of Investigation enquiry into the Patnitop Development Authority area. The cumulative value of properties provisionally attached so far stands at approximately Rs 41.38 crore across the three phases of action announced between January 2025 and November 2026.
The properties remain under provisional attachment pending the statutory process under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act. The underlying allegations of unauthorised construction, commercial operation without permission and related regulatory violations continue to be examined in the criminal and money-laundering proceedings that are already under way.
