In NIA charge sheet, no terror charges against US national VanDyke, 6 Ukrainians | India News

The National Investigation Agency (NIA) on Tuesday charged US national Mathew Aaron VanDyke and six Ukrainians, arrested in March this year, under the Immigration and Foreigners Act, and not the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act (UAPA).VanDyke was arrested from Kolkata airport by NIA on March 13 under Section 18 of UAPA, which punishes conspiracy, advocacy, abetment, or incitement to commit a terrorist act. His six Ukrainian associates - Hurba Petro, Taras Slyviak, Ivan Sukmanovskyi, Marian Stefankiv, Maksim Honcharuk and Viktor Kaminskyi - were arrested from Delhi and Lucknow airports on the same day.But in the charge sheet filed in the court of special judge Prashant Sharma at Rouse Avenue Courts, NIA only charged them under sections 21 and 23 of the Immigration and Foreigners Act, which cover illegal entry and violations of visa conditions.NIA said the accused violated the conditions of their Indian visas by entering the notified Protected Area without the requisite permit and subsequently crossing the India-Myanmar border through unauthorised points. The two offences carry a punishment of up to five and three years in prison, respectively.“We have filed a charge sheet against seven accused under the Immigration and Foreigners Act. The probe has been kept open in all other aspects, including the UAPA charges,” Rahul Tyagi, NIA’s special public prosecutor told HT.VanDyke, according to his website, is from Baltimore and has worked as a soldier, international businessman, war correspondent, columnist and international businessman. He claims to be a veteran of the Libyan revolution, a former prisoner of war there and the founder of a military contracting firm — SOLI (Sons of Liberty International).In the charge sheet, NIA said it had completed a substantial part of its investigation into the offences committed under the UAPA but needed more time. Already, NIA, which was to file the charges within 90 days, was granted an additional 90 days to file the charge sheet.“Further investigation is under-going and more time is required in order to ascertain and verify the true and complete facts about the commission of offences under UAPA,” the agency said in the charge sheet, seeking permission to continue investigating the alleged conspiracy.NIA claimed it needed to further probe the import and recovery of a large quantity of drones and accessories through India and the seizure of several digital devices, “which may indicate their possible involvement in acts affecting/threatening the unity, integrity, security and sovereignty of India”.An NIA spokesperson didn’t comment on the developments.Advocate Rohit Dandriyal, who is representing Van Dyke, said the NIA was investigating fake terror charges.“NIA did not find any evidence against the accused even after being granted an additional 90 days for investigation, during which time the accused remained incarcerated on fictitious UAPA charges,” Dandriyal told HT.Myanmar training missionAccording to NIA, the seven entered India on valid travel documents in December 2025 but later travelled to Guwahati and Mizoram without obtaining the mandatory Protected Area Permit (PAP) or Restricted Area Permit (RAP).The agency alleged that they illegally crossed into Myanmar to reach Victoria Camp, where they were allegedly to conduct pre-scheduled training for Myanmar-based Ethnic Armed Groups in drone warfare, drone operations, assembly and jamming technology.The agency said the accused returned to India from Myanmar around March 5, 2026.NIA claimed that some of these groups had links with insurgent organisations in India.Six taxis, Tiau river routeAccording to the charge sheet, six taxis were hired through a car rental company catering to foreigners to transport the accused from Guwahati into Mizoram’s Protected Area. They allegedly halted for several hours before crossing into Myanmar through the Tiau river route and reached Victoria Camp on December 29, 2025.NIA said two persons, Abika and Viktor/Kima, allegedly arranged the logistics for the border crossing.NIA claimed that the alleged trip was not merely an immigration violation but formed part of “a larger conspiracy involving Indian insurgent groups, particularly those active in the northeastern states”.