US national Mathew VanDyke, who was allowed to return to his home country for a month, returned to India and appeared before a Delhi court on Friday, people familiar with the development said.
Last month, a Delhi court allowed VanDyke and the six Ukrainian nationals to return to their respective countries on the condition that they would rejoin the investigation. The seven were arrested in March under stringent provisions of the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA), which the National Investigation Agency (NIA) subsequently dropped in its chargesheet filed in September. In the chargesheet, the NIA charged the seven accused only under the Immigration and Foreigners Act, an offence that can be compounded. VanDyke paid the compounding fees for the alleged violations under the Act and was granted default bail by the court last month.
The court had directed VanDyke, in an order last month, to appear before it within 72 hours of returning to India, one of the persons said. The six Ukrainian nationals arrested along with VanDyke on March 13, however, have not returned to India.
“He is currently completing formalities in the court,” the person said, requesting anonymity.
The agency had said last month that its investigation under the UAPA was continuing.
