New Delhi: A special court in Delhi Friday granted default bail to US national Matthew VanDyke, one of the seven foreigners arrested by National Investigation Agency (NIA) on charges of crossing over to Myanmar to train Ethnic Armed Groups. VanDyke is set to walk out of Tihar Jail, where he has been lodged since his arrest in March this year.
This comes around 10 days after NIA filed a chargesheet against him and the six Ukrainian nationals under Immigration and Foreigners Act, without invoking Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA).
Special NIA Judge Prashant Sharma granted VanDyke bail on a Rs 1 lakh bond and an equal surety amount. He also set the condition that the accused cannot leave the country without the court’s permission till the training camp case is pending. The chargesheet filed by NIA is due for the court’s consideration on 1 October.
The court has scheduled the next hearing for 22 September to hear Vandyke’s application to go out of India.
The judge also observed that other co-accused persons can avail relief by filling their bail applications, bonds and surety amounts.
“The chargesheet filed by NIA is piecemeal as it pertains to sec 21 and 23 of Immigration and Foreigners Act, 2025, only. In the wake of further investigation being carried out by NIA with respect of offences under UAPA, at this stage it cannot be concluded that applicant/accused Matthew Aaron Vandyke is not entitled for default bail,” Special Judge Sharma observed in the order. “As such, investigating agency cannot circumvent sec. 187(3) BNSS (erstwhile sec. 167(2) CrPC) by filing incomplete charge-sheet, for the purpose of denying default bail to applicant/accused Matthew Aaron Van Dyke.”
VanDyke and the others—Hurba Petro, Slyviak Taras, Ivan Sukmanovskyi, Stefankiv Marian, Honcharuk Maksim, and Kaminskyi Viktor—were arrested from different airports and locations by NIA in March under stringent UAPA provisions. However, last week, they were charged only under Sections 21 and 23 of the Immigration and Foreigners Act, 2025—both compoundable offences at the level of the Foreigners Regional Registration Officer, pertaining to illegal entry and visa violations.
Appearing for VanDyke, his team of counsel—advocates Rohit Dandriyal and Rohit Gour—told the court that there was substantive difference between the grounds cited by NIA at the time of his arrest, and the chargesheet eventually filed against him. They also informed the court that an application to compound offences under Immigration and Foreigners Act has already been moved before the Foreigners Registration Office (FRRO) and is pending adjudication.
Appearing for NIA, Special Public Prosecutor Rahul Tyagi reiterated that the investigation regarding the aspect of terror charges is still underway, and may well be covered in a supplementary chargesheet.
ThePrint has previously reported that the agency had not invoked UAPA in the chargesheet because it had not, so far, found evidence of their role in impairing training for armed groups inimical to India’s national security and sovereignty, ceasing the agency’s jurisdiction to probe the case.
The chargesheet alleged that the seven accused had entered India on valid documents in December last year, and crossed the border into Myanmar via Guwahati and Mizoram, without obtaining the mandatory Protected Area Permit (PAP) or Restricted Area Permit (RAP) as mandated under immigration rules.
According to the agency, they finally reached Victoria Camp, which has been functioning as the military headquarters of the rebel army in Myanmar over the last few years. There, NIA alleged, this group organised pre-scheduled training for Ethnic Armed Groups in drone warfare, drone operations, assembly and jamming technology before returning to India in the first week of March. However, they were intercepted at different airports before they could fly out of India.
This is an updated version of the report.
(Edited by Mannat Chugh)