UAPA probe: Terror charges not dropped against US citizen, 6 Ukrainians

New Delhi: National Investigation Agency (NIA) has not dropped the terror investigation against US national Matthew Aaron Van Dyke and six Ukrainian nationals arrested in March 2026 in a case originally registered under section 18 of the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA), along with other offences, over allegations concerning illegal entry into Myanmar and drone-warfare training of ethnic armed groups, officials said.

A senior official told ET, "Investigation into offences under UAPA is continuing against all of them. NIA has on Tuesday filed a chargesheet under the Immigration and Foreigners Act because those offences have already been fully established during the investigation till now."

The officials explained that under the UAPA framework, the investigating agency can have up to 180 days to complete the investigation while an accused remains in custody, subject to the statutory process. If the requisite chargesheet is not filed within the applicable period, the accused can seek statutory bail. In this case, the statutory period of 180 days of judicial custody was getting over on September 8.


"NIA has fully established the offences under the Immigration and Foreigners Act. The agency has therefore filed a chargesheet for those offences... This should not be confused with closure of the larger investigation. The chargesheet filed by NIA records that investigation under UAPA continues," the officials said.

The law also permits further investigation after the filing of a chargesheet and a supplementary chargesheet where additional evidence establishes further offences. Therefore, the fact that UAPA provisions are not part of the present chargesheet does not mean that the UAPA probe has been withdrawn, abandoned or closed, the officials said.

The agency had booked and arrested the US national and Ukrainian nationals Hurba Petro, Slyviak Taras, Ivan Sukmanovskyi, Stefankiv Marian, Honcharuk Maksim and Kaminskyi Viktor under section 18 of UAPA, among others. The section deals with offences amounting to conspiracy for terrorist activities and organising terror camps.

On the issue of US diplomats raising the case of one of the detained citizens, the officials said it is a normal diplomatic practice.