Delhi court grants bail to US national Matthew Aaron VanDyke in Myanmar terror training case

A Delhi court on Friday granted default bail to Matthew Aaron Van Dyke, a US national who was arrested by the National Investigation Agency (NIA) in March this year.

Special NIA Judge Prashant Sharma of the Rouse Avenue Court granted bail to Van Dyke on a personal bond of ₹1 lakh and a surety of the same amount.

In its order, the Court noted that the chargesheet filed by the NIA was "piecemeal" as it pertained to Section 21 and 23 of the Immigration and Foreigners Act, 2025 only.

It said that as the NIA is still investigating the offences under Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA), it cannot be concluded that Van Dyke is not entitled to default bail.

"As such, investigating agency cannot circumvent sec. 187(3) BNSS (erstwhile sec. 167(2) CrPC) by filing incomplete charge-sheet, for the purpose of denying default bail to applicant/ accused Matthew Aaron Van Dyke," the Court said.

The Court said that while on bail, Van Dyke must stay in Delhi and appear before the NIA whenever required.

Further, the Court added that all the other co-accused persons in the case are also entitled to default bail.

Van Dyke was arrested by the NIA at Kolkata airport on March 13, 2026, alongside six Ukrainian nationals arrested at Lucknow and Delhi airports the same day.

As per his own website, he had served in the Iraq War and Libya's civil war, and he founded a Washington, DC-based security consulting firm called Sons of Liberty International, which says it trains vulnerable populations to defend against terrorist and insurgent groups. It has been reported that the firm also advised Ukraine's military on non-lethal equipment between 2022 and 2023. 

The group was accused of entering India's Mizoram state without valid permits and then illegally crossing into Myanmar, where they allegedly provided drone-warfare training to ethnic armed groups fighting Myanmar's military government. 

The case was initially registered under Section 18 of the UAPA, but in the first chargesheet filed in the case, the anti-terror agency only referred to violation of the provisions of the Immigration and Foreigners Act.

It later clarified that terror charges have not been dropped against the accused.

Advocates Rohit Dandriyal and Rohit Gour represented Van Dyke.

NIA was represented by Special Public Prosecutor (SPP) Rahul Tyagi, as well as advocates Ankit Gautam and Jatin.