Chandigarh, June 14 -- A Delhi sessions court that dismissed the bail plea of an accused arrested in an alleged honey-trap and cyber fraud case involving a Haryana judicial officer has said the "pattern of financial transactions correlating so precisely and immediately with the WhatsApp communications is consistent with the hypothesis of a honey trap." The case came under sharp judicial scrutiny with the court expressing profound anguish over the conduct of the accused Deepak Vats, the victim judicial officer, Harshali Chowdhary and the investigating officer, sub-inspector Ajit Dadarwal of Delhi Police, saying a matter that should have been straightforward had been complicated, obfuscated and rendered murky. "Each, for their own reasons, appears to be less than fully forthcoming with the court, and the casualty is the truth that it is this Court's function to ascertain," the court said. Chowdhary, a member of the Haryana superior judicial service is presently posted as additional district and sessions judge, fast track special court for trying offences under the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act at Narnaul. Additional sessions judge (ASJ), New Delhi (Patiala House Courts) Saurabh Partap Singh Laler in his June 9 order said that during course of proceedings in numerous cyber-fraud matters, the court encountered a regrettable pattern in which individuals, including civil servants, professionals, and businessmen of standing have been ensnared in digital arrest, investment fraud or romantic honey traps. "The modus operandi is distressingly familiar: Initial contact through a dating application, rapid emotional escalation, deep intimacy, and progressive financial extraction under the guise of investments, gifts, or shared ventures. The present matter bears all the hallmarks of this pattern," the ASJ said while dismissing the bail plea of accused Deepak Vats. Pointing out a glaring lacuna in the investigation, the court said neither the victim judge nor her maid who is the complainant, had placed a single piece of electronic evidence on record. The ASJ said the court must observe that a judicial officer is involved in this matter as the real and principal victim. "It is well recognised that when a person of standing and responsibility in the justice delivery system is involved in a criminal matter, the highest standard of transparency and forthcoming disclosure is expected. Chowdhary, being a member of the judicial service, is expected to be fully aware of the importance of electronic evidence in cyber fraud investigations," the court said. It said the victim holds the data on her own device that is most crucial to this case. The fact that she has to date neither volunteered nor been called upon by the IO to produce her own Tinder profile data, her complete WhatsApp chat history with the accused, and her call data records, is a matter of concern. If the victim truly intends to bring the accused to justice, the surest path to that outcome is full and immediate disclosure of all communications. Selective silence or strategic presentation of evidence serves neither the cause of justice nor the victim's own stated objective, the court said. The ASJ said the entire corpus of electronic communications before this court consists solely and exclusively of what the accused has chosen to produce and even that is deliberately partial and one-sided. The court pointed out that bank statements show transaction after transaction was made from Chowdhary's accounts. The pay-in slip shows that the peon of Chowdhary's court deposited the final cash amount. "The WhatsApp chats-even in their incomplete, one-sided form-show a pattern of payments coordinated with intimate communications. The booking confirmation shows a physical meeting was arranged. What is missing is the full story - and the full story can only emerge if all parties place all evidence before the court and investigator.Until that happens, this court is constrained to work with an incomplete record," the ASJ said....