VanDyke, who was granted permission to travel to the US for a month in September, returned to India to appear before the court.
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A Delhi court on Friday allowed US national Matthew VanDyke to return to his home country until February 24 next year, after he appeared before it in a case in which the National Investigation Agency (NIA) has accused him and six Ukrainian nationals of training Myanmar-based ethnic armed groups in drone warfare.
However, news agency PTI quoted VanDyke as saying that he’ll stay in India till the case is over. “There’s no reason for it [the case] to continue. I’ll stay in India until this is over,” he said.
The US national also said that he had removed his lawyer due to financial difficulties. “I don’t have any comments on the case. It’s all ongoing. Especially now that I’m my own lawyer. I don’t want to talk about it. There is a money issue. That’s the main issue,” he added.
VanDyke returns for proceedings
Special Judge Prashant Sharma passed the order while hearing applications moved by the seven foreign nationals. The proceedings were held in-camera.
VanDyke, who was granted permission to travel to the US for a month in September, returned to India to appear before the court. The six Ukrainian nationals, who were also allowed to leave India, appeared through video conferencing, citing health issues. The court extended the permission for all seven accused to remain outside India until February 24.
According to the court order, seen by HT, the NIA did not oppose VanDyke’s return to the US. The agency told the court that it needed more time to investigate several aspects of the case, with its counsel Rahul Tyagi making submissions to this effect.
Previous cases involving foreign nationals
The case is not the first instance of a foreign national leaving India while an investigation or legal proceedings remain pending, people in central agencies pointed out.
In an earlier case, Warren Anderson, chairman of US-based Union Carbide Corporation (UCC), was allowed to leave India within hours of his arrest in Bhopal on December 7, 1984. The government of India subsequently pursued his extradition for decades, without success. Anderson died in Florida on September 29, 2015, aged 92.
Kim Davy, alias Niels Holck Nielsen, believed to be the mastermind behind the 1995 Purulia arms drop in West Bengal, also managed to flee India after being detained. India pursued his extradition from Denmark for years, but the request was ultimately rejected.
In contrast, British national Christian Michel, extradited from the UAE in December 2018 in connection with the ₹3,727-crore VVIP chopper scam, remains in Tihar jail and is yet to secure bail.
The case against VanDyke
The NIA arrested VanDyke and the six Ukrainians on March 13. It alleged that they entered Myanmar through Mizoram without valid travel documents and trained members of ethnic armed groups, including the Chin National Front and the Kachin Independence Army, for nearly three months in drone operations, assembly and jamming technology.
The agency initially invoked provisions of the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA), but did not include them in its charge sheet. The seven were charged under Sections 21 and 23 of the Immigration and Foreigners Act, which provide for compoundable offences. The NIA has said its investigation into other aspects of the case is continuing.
The six Ukrainians are – Hurba Petro, Taras Slyviak, Ivan Sukmanovskyi, Marian Stefankiv, Maksim Honcharuk and Viktor Kaminskyi.
Neeraj Chauhan is a senior journalist with Hindustan Times and an investigative reporter specialising in national security, terrorism, organised crime, narcotics, corruption, financial crime and complex investigations. With over 21 years of experience across Hindustan Times, The Times of India, The Indian Express and The Pioneer, he has built deep expertise in India’s internal security and law-enforcement landscape. Neeraj has extensively covered India’s principal investigative, intelligence and security agencies, including the NIA, CBI, ED, IB, R&AW, MHA and other central security forces. His work has included deeply reported investigations into terrorism, terror financing, cross-border crime, narcotics trafficking, cybercrime, financial fraud and political and corporate corruption. He has reported on some of the most significant terror attacks and security developments in India over the past two decades, including the Delhi serial blasts, the 26/11 Mumbai attacks, the 2019 Pulwama terror attack and the recent Pahalgam attack. His reporting has also chronicled the rise and decline of the Indian Mujahideen, the activities and subsequent crackdown on the Popular Front of India (PFI), Islamist extremist networks, the conflict in Jammu and Kashmir, insurgencies in the Northeast and Maoist violence. Some of Neeraj’s major breaking stories are in Aryan Khan drug case, Sushant Singh Rajput suicide, interception of a 3,000-kg Afghan heroin consignment worth about ₹21,000 crore at Mundra port, Sri Lanka easter bombings, Aarushi-Hemraj murders in Noida, 2G scam, coal block allocation scam, AgustWestland VVIP chopper deal and major bank frauds and extradition cases involving Mehul Choksi, Nirav Modi and Vijay Mallya. His reporting is marked by an ability to cultivate sources, analyse confidential and complex documents, and follow investigations over several years—from the initial breakthrough to chargesheets, trials and international legal proceedings. He specialises in making complicated security and investigative developments accessible while examining their wider implications for governance and public policy. A Chevening South Asia Journalism Programme Fellow at the University of Westminster, Neeraj also spent time at the Financial Times as part of the fellowship. He was also a Robert Bosch Media Ambassadors India-Germany Fellow, studying at the University of Tübingen and working with Der Tagesspiegel in Berlin. He has previously taught investigative journalism and crime reporting as a guest faculty member at the Times School of Journalism. Over more than two decades, Neeraj has established himself as an authoritative voice on India’s national security and investigative landscape, with his reporting closely followed by officials, investigators, lawyers, policymakers and readers seeking insight into some of the country’s most complex and consequential developments.Read More