A special court in New Delhi on Wednesday (September 23, 2026) granted default bail to six Ukrainian nationals arrested by the National Investigation Agency (NIA) in March in connection with an alleged cross-border conspiracy involving ethnic armed groups in Myanmar.
The six Ukrainians were arrested at airports in Delhi and Lucknow on the same day. Special Judge Prashant Sharma of the Rouse Avenue court granted bail to Hurba Petro, Slyviak Taras, Ivan Sukmanovskyi, Stefankiv Marian, Honcharuk Maksim, and Kaminskyi Viktor on personal cash bonds of ₹1 lakh each. The court also discharged the accused under Sections 21 (penalty for unauthorised entry) and 23 (penalty for visa overstay and general contraventions) of the Immigration and Foreigners Act, 2025, noting the compounding of offences by the Foreigners Regional Registration Office (FRRO). The court will hear American national Matthew Aaron VanDyke’s application seeking permission to travel to U.S. on Friday (September 25, 2026). The development came days after the court, on September 18, granted default bail to Mr. VanDyke, who was arrested by the NIA on March 13 at the Kolkata airport.
The NIA, in the past, had indicated that its investigation into the alleged terror-related aspects is continuing and that further allegations could be included in a supplementary charge sheet.
