[REVISION HISTORY]

Legal proceedings against US national Matthew Van Dyke

Updated 3 times since CLSTR started tracking revisions of this situation.

What changed

2026-09-23 12:11 UTC → 2026-09-25 05:31 UTC · added ~~removed~~

Matthew Aaron Van Dyke, a US national, was arrested in March 2026 alongside six Ukrainian nationals following allegations of illegal entry into Myanmar and providing drone-warfare training to ethnic armed groups. In September 2026, Van Dyke’s legal team sought default bail in a Delhi court, arguing that the National Investigation Agency (NIA) had failed to include charges under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA) in its latest chargesheet. While the NIA had filed charges under the Immigration and Foreigners Act, the agency maintained that its investigation into terror conspiracy was ongoing and that a supplementary chargesheet might be filed. Subsequently, Van Dyke was granted default bail after the NIA failed to file UAPA-related charges within the statutory period. To address the remaining immigration offences, Van Dyke paid a fine of Rs 5.5 lakh to the Foreigners Regional Registration Office. He has since applied to the court for permission to travel to the United States to visit family and is reportedly preparing a discharge application. ongoing. On September 22, 2026, a special NIA court in Delhi modified Van Dyke’s bail ~~conditions, allowing his release on a Rs 1 lakh cash bond~~ conditions and ~~exempting him from a surety bond. The court also deferred a hearing regarding his application to travel to the United States. Simultaneously, the court~~ granted default bail to the six Ukrainian ~~nationals involved—Hurba~~ nationals—Hurba Petro, Taras Slyviak, Ivan Sukmanovskyi, Marian Stefankiv, Maksym Honcharuk, and Viktor Kaminskyi—after they ~~each~~ paid ~~a Rs 5.5 lakh penalty~~ penalties to compound offences under the Immigration and Foreigners Act, 2025. ~~These individuals remain restricted from leaving Delhi without~~ On September 24, 2026, Special NIA Judge Prashant Sharma granted the accused permission to travel to the United States and Ukraine for one month to visit their families. The court ~~permission.~~ ordered the release of their passports, noting that the “right to travel abroad is an extension of a fundamental right under the Indian Constitution.” The investigation has since focused on violations of the Immigration and Foreigners Act regarding illegal entry and visa overstaying, as terrorism-related allegations were dropped in the initial chargesheet due to a lack of direct evidence affecting Indian sovereignty.

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