New Delhi: Shortly after securing default bail in the National Investigation Agency’s Myanmar training camp probe, American citizen Matthew Aaron Van Dyke on Tuesday paid ₹5.5 lakh as compounding charges to the Foreigners Regional Registration Office (FRRO) to settle offences under the Immigration and Foreigners Act.
His legal team told the media they plan to file a discharge plea before the special NIA court later this week, aiming to end the proceedings against him now that the immigration violations have been compounded, as reported by The Tribune.
UAPA Dropped, Default Bail Granted
On September 8, the NIA filed its chargesheet before the special court, charging the seven foreigners solely under Sections 21 and 23 of the Immigration and Foreigners Act, 2025, and excluding all anti‑terror provisions.
Both violations can be compounded at the FRRO, allowing the accused to close them by paying a set penalty.
When it granted default bail on September 18, Special NIA Judge Prashant Sharma ordered Van Dyke to stay within Delhi and appear before investigators whenever summoned.
The judge added that the same grounds applied to the six Ukrainian co‑accused, who remain in judicial custody, and directed that copies of the order be delivered to them via jail authorities so they could move their own default bail applications.
Van Dyke’s lawyer, Rohit Dandriyal, told The Tribune last week that bail was allowed because the NIA could not substantiate the UAPA allegations even after his client had spent 180 days in detention. “This is the reason we had applied for bail and it was granted by default,” he said.
Drone Training, Illegal North-East Travel
Van Dyke and the six Ukrainians were taken into custody in March on suspicion of conducting drone warfare training, aiding illegal border crossings, and maintaining connections with armed outfits near India’s North-East.
According to the agency, they arrived on tourist visas, moved to the North-East without the necessary permits, and then crossed illegally from Mizoram into Myanmar to train ethnic armed groups.
The NIA told the court that, despite leaving UAPA sections out of the chargesheet, the probe under the anti‑terror statute continues.
The case started as a terror conspiracy investigation over alleged links to armed groups operating in India.
Van Dyke’s family has pressed for urgent diplomatic assistance from the US, alleging he was denied basic rights as a detainee in Tihar Jail.
Sons of Liberty International, the NGO he set up, said in a statement dated August 30 that US Ambassador to India Sergio Gor had “previously briefed Foreign Secretary Vikram Misri and Secretary of State Marco Rubio on Matthew’s situation during his (Rubio’s) visit to Delhi on May 24-26”.
When questioned last week about the decision to omit UAPA charges from the chargesheet, Ministry of External Affairs spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal said the issue was sub judice.