A Delhi court on Wednesday granted default bail to six Ukrainians arrested by the National Investigation Agency (NIA) in March over allegations that they trained ethnic armed groups in Myanmar.
The court subsequently released him on a cash bond of a similar amount. Default bail accrues to an accused when an investigating agency fails to complete its investigation within the period allowed by law. The court, however, barred VanDyke from travelling outside Delhi without permission. The six Ukrainians, identified as Hurba Petro, Taras Slyviak, Ivan Sukmanovskyi, Marian Stefankiv, Maksim Honcharuk and Viktor Kaminskyi, were arrested at Delhi and Lucknow airports on the same day as VanDyke. All seven were in judicial custody at Tihar jail.
This comes a week after American citizen Matthew Aaron VanDyke, who was arrested under terror charges on March 13 along with six Ukrainian nationals for allegedly training ethnic armed groups in Myanmar, got bail. The accused paid ₹ 5.5 lakh as a penalty for the immigration offences. The court further imposed a cash bond of ₹ 1 lakh as a condition for their release. The NIA had 90 days to file its chargesheet against the seven and was granted a further 90 days, taking the period to 180 days. It filed the chargesheet on September 8, charging them only under Sections 21 and 23 of the Immigration and Foreigners Act, 2025, which cover illegal entry and violations of visa conditions, while leaving out the UAPA, under which they were arrested and investigated. Special Judge Sharma on Wednesday also modified the bail condition imposed on VanDyke, exempting him from furnishing a surety bond of ₹ 1 lakh after his counsel informed the court that VanDyke had no known persons in the country to stand as surety for him. He paid ₹ 5.5 lakh as compounding charges to the FRRO in Delhi on Tuesday before moving an application seeking his discharge.
The judge, who granted VanDyke bail, said the agency had invoked “piecemeal” charges under Sections 21 and 23 of the Immigration and Foreigners Act rather than the more serious UAPA Section 18. The order was passed on Wednesday by Special Judge Prashant Sharma of Rouse Avenue Courts, paving the way for the six Ukrainians to be discharged of offences under the Immigration and Foreigners Act after the cases were compounded before the Foreigners Regional Registration Office (FRRO).
“The chargesheet filed by the NIA is piecemeal as it pertains to section 21 and 23 of Immigration and Foreigners Act, 2025, only.
In the wake of further investigation being carried out by the NIA with respect of offences under UAPA, at this stage it cannot be concluded that accused is not entitled to default bail,” the court said in its order.
Both the immigration offences are compoundable before the FRRO after appropriate payment of the penalty amount.
