Delhi court allows 7 arrested in Myanmar drone case to go home
A Delhi court has permitted seven foreign nationals, arrested in a case under investigation by the National Investigation Agency (NIA), to return to their home countries in the United States and Ukraine. The court observed that the right to travel abroad is an extension of fundamental rights. The court also directed that all seven foreign nationals must return to India after completing one month in their respective countries.
The NIA arrested the individuals for their alleged involvement in a drone warfare training camp associated with ethnic armed groups in Myanmar.
Special NIA Judge Prashant Sharma, in an order passed on Thursday, had discharged US national Matthew Aaron Van Dyke and six Ukrainian citizens under sections 21 (penalty for unauthorised entry) and 23 (penalty for visa overstay and general contraventions) of the Immigration and Foreigners Act, 2025, taking note of the compounding of offences by the FRRO.
On September 18, the FRRO compounded the offences and imposed a fine of Rs 5.5 lakh on each accused.
Judge Sharma noted that all accused persons had filed applications for passport release and permission to travel abroad.
“Admittedly, investigation with respect to offences under the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act (UAPA) is going on. NIA will take some time to conclude said investigation and this court cannot direct NIA to conclude said investigation within a particular time, as per law,” the judge said.
The court observed that the NIA did not require the seven accused to be physically present to continue the investigation.
“Further, the right to travel abroad is an extension of fundamental rights under Article 21 of the Constitution, as per the law, which cannot be taken lightly and a balance has to be struck,” Judge Sharma said. He noted that the accused persons have shown willingness to join the investigation when asked by the NIA.
The court permitted the accused to travel to the USA and Ukraine for one month from the date of departure, subject to certain conditions.
The court directed the accused to join the investigation virtually or in person as required by the NIA. The accused must provide their residential addresses, active mobile numbers, and email addresses to the NIA. If they do not have working phone numbers, they are to submit their family members' mobile numbers within 24 hours. After reaching their destinations, they must provide their own working phone numbers within a week. Dyke was granted default bail on September 18, while the six Ukrainians – Hurba Petro, Slyviak Taras, Ivan Sukmanovskyi, Stefankiv Marian, Honcharuk Maksim alias Maksym and Kaminskyi Viktor – were granted default bail on September 23. The NIA had earlier registered the case against the Ukrainian nationals and Van Dyke under section 18 (punishment for conspiracy) of the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA), along with sections of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS).
The NIA investigated the case as involving alleged UAPA offences for 180 days after receiving a court extension. In its first chargesheet, filed on September 8, the agency invoked provisions of the Immigration and Foreigners Act and said the UAPA investigation was ongoing. The agency said it kept the investigation into offences under the UAPA pending and could file a supplementary chargesheet if it established an offence under the anti-terror law.
The NIA said it has completed a substantial part of the investigation into alleged UAPA offences, but needs more time to establish all facts, especially regarding the import and recovery of a large quantity of drones and accessories in India.
Earlier, the agency informed the court that the accused were under investigation for a broad terror conspiracy, including providing assistance and drone training to ethnic armed groups in India and Myanmar. The NIA stated that the accused entered Myanmar through Mizoram without valid travel documents and took part in a scheduled training programme on drone warfare, operations, assembly, and jamming technology for Myanmar-based ethnic armed groups targeting the Myanmar military.
