New Delhi: The National Investigation Agency (NIA) dropped the provisions of the stringent Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, or the UAPA, against six Ukrainians and one US national arrested for allegedly training anti-India ethnic armed groups in Myanmar, ThePrint has learnt.
In a chargesheet filed Tuesday before a special NIA court in Delhi, the NIA invoked only Sections 21 and 23 of the Immigration and Foreigners Act, 2025—both compoundable offences at the level of the Foreigners Regional Registration Office.
Appearing for the agency, Special Public Prosecutor Rahul Tyagi informed the court that the agency didn’t invoke sections of the UAPA in this chargesheet. However, he told the court that the investigation into offences under the UAPA has been kept pending for further probe. The agency may file a supplementary chargesheet if an offence under the Act is made out, he added.
The counter-terrorism law enforcement agency had booked and arrested US national Matthew Aaron VanDyke, Ukrainian nationals Hurba Petro, Slyviak Taras, Ivan Sukmanovskyi, Stefankiv Marian, Honcharuk Maksim, and Kaminskyi Viktor under Section 18 of the UAPA among others. The section deals with offences amounting to conspiracy for terrorist activities and organising terror camps.
While VanDyke was detained at Kolkata airport in March, the Ukrainians were picked up at airports in Delhi and Lucknow.
Responding to the NIA’s chargesheet, VanDyke’s counsels slammed the NIA for the extended period of judicial custody of their client.
“NIA accused my client of hatching a conspiracy inimical to India’s national security and after a period of six months, they have filed a chargesheet saying they didn’t find evidence to charge him under UA(P)A,” advocate Rohit Dandriyal told ThePrint. “This approach raises fingers on the investigation of the NIA.”
As for the arrested Ukrainian nationals, advocate Nitin Saluja told the court that he had been arguing about the innocence of his clients. The NIA’s move, he asserted, not to charge them under the UAPA proved his point.
These seven foreign nationals, the NIA had told the court, entered Mizoram illegally before crossing over to Myanmar, where they imparted training to Ethnic Armed Groups (EAGs) known to support terrorist organisations operating in India and target the Myanmar junta.
They imparted “pre-scheduled training” to EAG operatives in drone warfare, drone operations, and assembly and jamming technology, the court was informed.
Over the course of the investigation, the NIA accused VanDyke and others of assembling equipment and targeting a passenger flight in Myanmar.
It alleged that during their initial period of custody, the arrested accused made “important disclosures” related to the “conspiracy,” including being in “direct touch” with terrorists “carrying AK-47 rifles.”
In the chargesheet, the NIA submitted evidence including those extracted from the seized phones of the accused which were sent to CERT-IN, the nodal agency responsible for dealing with cybersecurity threats, for forensic examination.
A few days earlier, VanDyke’s family urged the Donald Trump administration to intervene diplomatically in the issue to secure release of VanDyke.
“This is a humanitarian emergency for our family,” his mother Sharon VanDyke said in a statement released on X. “Matthew has spent his life documenting human suffering and supporting people in crisis. He is innocent, and we are pleading with the United States government to bring him home safely.”
(Edited by Tony Rai)