American citizen Matthew Aaron VanDyke, whom the National Investigation Agency (NIA) charged with violating the Immigration and Foreigners Act this month, has paid ₹5.5 lakh as compounding charges to the Foreigners Regional Registration Office in Delhi before moving an application seeking his discharge, people familiar with the development said on Tuesday.
American citizen Matthew Aaron VanDyke described himself as a veteran of the Libyan revolution and a former prisoner of war.
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His lawyers, Rohit Gour and Rohit Dandriyal, will move a court with the discharge application.
VanDyke was arrested under terror charges on March 13 along with six Ukrainian nationals for allegedly training ethnic armed groups in Myanmar.
The NIA on September 8 named VanDyke, who described himself as a veteran of the Libyan revolution and a former prisoner of war there, in a charge sheet filed under rather diluted charges under the Immigration and Foreigners Act sections 21 and 23. The Act governs conditions of entry and stay in India. It has provisions for either two to three years of imprisonment or payment of a fine for compounding offences.
The NIA maintained on September 9 that it is continuing its probe under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA) charges against VanDyke, who last week got bail. The judge, who granted the bail, said the agency had invoked “piecemeal” charges of sections 21 and 23 of the Immigration and Foreigners Act rather than the more serious UAPA section 18
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The court barred VanDyke from travelling outside Delhi without permission.
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The court barred VanDyke from travelling outside Delhi without permission.
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VanDyke was arrested at Kolkata airport under section 18 of UAPA, which relates to conspiracy, advocacy, abetment or incitement to commit a terrorist act. The six Ukrainians, Hurba Petro, Taras Slyviak, Ivan Sukmanovskyi, Marian Stefankiv, Maksim Honcharuk and Viktor Kaminskyi, were arrested at Delhi and Lucknow airports the same day.
An NIA official said on September 8 that there appeared, so far, to be no terror conspiracy against India.
The NIA said that the seven entered India on valid travel documents in December 2025, travelled to Guwahati and Mizoram without the mandatory protected area permit or restricted area permit. It said they crossed the India-Myanmar border through unauthorised points to reach Victoria Camp, where they were to conduct pre-scheduled training for Myanmar-based ethnic armed groups in drone warfare, drone operations, assembly and jamming technology. NIA said some of those groups are linked to insurgent organisations in India.
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NIA maintained that the case involved more than an immigration violation and formed part of “a larger conspiracy involving Indian insurgent groups, particularly those active in the northeastern states”.
VanDyke, from Baltimore, describes himself on his website as a soldier, war correspondent, columnist and international businessman. He founded Sons of Liberty International, a military contracting firm.
Neeraj Chauhan is a senior journalist with Hindustan Times and an investigative reporter specialising in national security, terrorism, organised crime, narcotics, corruption, financial crime and complex investigations. With over 21 years of experience across Hindustan Times, The Times of India, The Indian Express and The Pioneer, he has built deep expertise in India’s internal security and law-enforcement landscape. Neeraj has extensively covered India’s principal investigative, intelligence and security agencies, including the NIA, CBI, ED, IB, R&AW, MHA and other central security forces. His work has included deeply reported investigations into terrorism, terror financing, cross-border crime, narcotics trafficking, cybercrime, financial fraud and political and corporate corruption. He has reported on some of the most significant terror attacks and security developments in India over the past two decades, including the Delhi serial blasts, the 26/11 Mumbai attacks, the 2019 Pulwama terror attack and the recent Pahalgam attack. His reporting has also chronicled the rise and decline of the Indian Mujahideen, the activities and subsequent crackdown on the Popular Front of India (PFI), Islamist extremist networks, the conflict in Jammu and Kashmir, insurgencies in the Northeast and Maoist violence. Some of Neeraj’s major breaking stories are in Aryan Khan drug case, Sushant Singh Rajput suicide, interception of a 3,000-kg Afghan heroin consignment worth about ₹21,000 crore at Mundra port, Sri Lanka easter bombings, Aarushi-Hemraj murders in Noida, 2G scam, coal block allocation scam, AgustWestland VVIP chopper deal and major bank frauds and extradition cases involving Mehul Choksi, Nirav Modi and Vijay Mallya. His reporting is marked by an ability to cultivate sources, analyse confidential and complex documents, and follow investigations over several years—from the initial breakthrough to chargesheets, trials and international legal proceedings. He specialises in making complicated security and investigative developments accessible while examining their wider implications for governance and public policy. A Chevening South Asia Journalism Programme Fellow at the University of Westminster, Neeraj also spent time at the Financial Times as part of the fellowship. He was also a Robert Bosch Media Ambassadors India-Germany Fellow, studying at the University of Tübingen and working with Der Tagesspiegel in Berlin. He has previously taught investigative journalism and crime reporting as a guest faculty member at the Times School of Journalism. Over more than two decades, Neeraj has established himself as an authoritative voice on India’s national security and investigative landscape, with his reporting closely followed by officials, investigators, lawyers, policymakers and readers seeking insight into some of the country’s most complex and consequential developments.
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Home/India News/US man granted bail in arms training matter pays fine, to seek discharge in immigration case
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