JAMMU: According to sources, the CBI has filed six charge sheets in connection with claims that hotels and guesthouses in Jammu and Kashmir colluded with past CEOs of the Patnitop Development Authority (PDA) to seize forest and agricultural land. The agency has listed eight hotel owners in its charge sheets submitted to a special court in Jammu, along with two former PDA CEOs, Rajinder Krishan Verma and Kamal Kishore Gupta, two Khilafwarzi inspectors, Avesh Jasrotia and Zaheer Abbas. On Monday, the agency submitted five charge sheets, and on Saturday, one. The agency has also identified Syed Mushtaq Shah, Nazir Shah, Samina Shah, Zubeida Begum, Shakeel Shah, Koushal Magotra, and Virender Kesar as the alleged owners of the hotels Mount View, Dream Land, Broadway, and Hollywood. “Investigation revealed that accused public servants did not take steps to remove illegal constructions, etc. in conspiracy with other accused,” a spokesperson for the CBI stated. According to the Jammu and Kashmir High Court’s instructions, the CBI took up the probe in 2020 after the president of the Hotel and Restaurant Association of Patnitop filed a public interest lawsuit citing flagrant violations of the Patnitop area’s master plan.He said that 70% of hotels and restaurants had been built without authorization. The construction of numerous hotels and guest houses without authorization and without registration with the PDA was further accused. Additionally, it was claimed that officials knew about these encroachments but did nothing about them. The hotels allegedly failed to submit a compounding charge in some instances, according to the CBI’s statement following the filing of the FIR. The CBI said that government employees who had control over property in Patnitop conspired with the owners and operators of hotels, guest homes, resorts, etc.
failed to uphold the interests of the state and, in contravention of the PDA master plan, permitted illegal development on the aforementioned land that was intended for agriculture, parking, and residential use.
