US man granted bail in arms training matter pays fine, to seek discharge in immigration case | India News

American citizen Matthew Aaron VanDyke, whom the National Investigation Agency (NIA) charged with violating the Immigration and Foreigners Act this month, has paid ₹5.5 lakh as compounding charges to the Foreigners Regional Registration Office in Delhi before moving an application seeking his discharge, people familiar with the development said on Tuesday.His lawyers, Rohit Gour and Rohit Dandriyal, will move a court with the discharge application.VanDyke was arrested under terror charges on March 13 along with six Ukrainian nationals for allegedly training ethnic armed groups in Myanmar.The NIA on September 8 named VanDyke, who described himself as a veteran of the Libyan revolution and a former prisoner of war there, in a charge sheet filed under rather diluted charges under the Immigration and Foreigners Act sections 21 and 23. The Act governs conditions of entry and stay in India. It has provisions for either two to three years of imprisonment or payment of a fine for compounding offences.The NIA maintained on September 9 that it is continuing its probe under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA) charges against VanDyke, who last week got bail. The judge, who granted the bail, said the agency had invoked “piecemeal” charges of sections 21 and 23 of the Immigration and Foreigners Act rather than the more serious UAPA section 18The court barred VanDyke from travelling outside Delhi without permission.VanDyke was arrested at Kolkata airport under section 18 of UAPA, which relates to conspiracy, advocacy, abetment or incitement to commit a terrorist act. The six Ukrainians, Hurba Petro, Taras Slyviak, Ivan Sukmanovskyi, Marian Stefankiv, Maksim Honcharuk and Viktor Kaminskyi, were arrested at Delhi and Lucknow airports the same day.An NIA official said on September 8 that there appeared, so far, to be no terror conspiracy against India.The NIA said that the seven entered India on valid travel documents in December 2025, travelled to Guwahati and Mizoram without the mandatory protected area permit or restricted area permit. It said they crossed the India-Myanmar border through unauthorised points to reach Victoria Camp, where they were to conduct pre-scheduled training for Myanmar-based ethnic armed groups in drone warfare, drone operations, assembly and jamming technology. NIA said some of those groups are linked to insurgent organisations in India.NIA maintained that the case involved more than an immigration violation and formed part of “a larger conspiracy involving Indian insurgent groups, particularly those active in the northeastern states”.VanDyke, from Baltimore, describes himself on his website as a soldier, war correspondent, columnist and international businessman. He founded Sons of Liberty International, a military contracting firm.