NEW DELHI: Congress on Wednesday accused the Centre of being “pressurised” by the United States after the National Investigating Agency did not invoke the provisions of the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA) in its chargesheet against US national Matthew Aaron VanDyke and six Ukrainian nationals.In a social media post on X, Congress leader Jairam Ramesh questioned whether the central probing agency dropped the charges after a proper investigation or whether the decision was taken due to pressure from the Centre at the instance of US authorities.“Did NIA drop the terror charges against the US national Matthew VanDyke after a proper investigation or was it pressurised to do so right away by the Modi Govt at the instance of the US authorities? What is pro quo that India expects for this quid?” Jairam Ramesh said.
“This appears to be bullying,” he added.Earlier on Friday, NIA filed a chargesheet against six Ukrainian nationals and US citizen VanDyke in a case registered by the agency in March 2026. The case was initially registered under the UAPA. However, the UAPA provision has not been invoked in the chargesheet filed by the agency.The NIA’s Special Public Prosecutor (SPP) said that the investigation in this regard is still ongoing and the agency may file a supplementary chargesheet if an offence under the UAPA is made out. The NIA has invoked Sections 21 and 23 of the Foreigners Act in the chargesheet. These are compoundable offences at the level of the Foreigners Regional Registration Office (FRRO). The chargesheet was filed before Special NIA Judge Prashant Sharma, who has listed the matter for consideration on October 1.The seven accused were arrested in connection with allegations of training ethnic armed groups in Myanmar that were allegedly inimical to India’s national security.The NIA had arrested Matthew Aaron Van Dyke (US citizen) and Ukrainian nationals Hurba Petro, Slyviak Taras, Ivan Sukmanovskyi, Stefankiv Marian, Honcharuk Maksim and Kaminskyi Viktor.VanDyke, a self-described combat specialist and founder of the security firm Sons of Liberty International (SOLI), was arrested at Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose International Airport on March 13, around 9 pm, as part of a coordinated crackdown.
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The accused were allegedly involved in supporting ethnic armed groups in Myanmar by supplying weapons, terrorist hardware and training them. They were arrested in a case lodged under Section 18 of the UAPA, relating to terror conspiracy, along with relevant provisions of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS), and were remanded to 11 days of NIA custody on March 17.However, the NIA has maintained that its investigation is continuing and that a supplementary chargesheet could be filed if an offence under the UAPA is established.