NEW DELHI: The National Investigation Agency (NIA) on Tuesday chargesheeted seven foreign nationals, including US citizen Matthew Aaron Van Dyke and six Ukrainians, in a terror conspiracy case over their alleged links with ethnic armed groups and training of anti-India forces. However, the agency did not invoke the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA) in the chargesheet.The chargesheet, filed before Special Judge Prashant Sharma, accused the seven of illegally entering, staying and moving within India under Sections 21 and 23 of the Immigration and Foreigners Act, according to news agency PTI.
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Van Dyke and the six Ukrainians, Kaminskyi Viktor, Hurba Petro, Slyviak Taras, Ivan Sukmanovskyi, Stefankiv Marian and Honcharuk Maksim, were arrested on March 13. The NIA alleged that they had entered India from Myanmar through the Mizoram border before being intercepted at different airports across the country.The agency had alleged that the group was operating as mercenaries and was probing their suspected involvement in a wider terror conspiracy, including assistance to ethnic armed groups in India and Myanmar and imparting drone training to them.The NIA had initially registered the case under provisions of the UAPA along with sections of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS). However, the stringent anti-terror law was not invoked in Tuesday’s chargesheet.On March 16, a court granted the NIA 11 days’ custody of the accused. They were subsequently remanded to judicial custody.