3 min readNew DelhiMar 28, 2026 12:38 AM IST
A special NIA court on Friday turned down the request for consular access sought by six Ukrainians and an American arrested on March 13 for breaching national security. The court also extended their NIA custody by 10 days up to April 6.
Earlier in the day, the judge allowed the agency’s plea seeking holding the proceedings at its headquarters. The NIA represented by Special Public Prosecutor Rahul Tyagi, Public Prosecutor Anil Dabas, and Advocates Jatin and Amit Rohilla had moved an application before Additional Sessions Judge Prashant Sharma of Patiala House Court citing a sensitive probe with global ramifications, and security concerns.
Along with the NIA’s counsel and Judge Sharma, legal aid counsel Piyush Sachdeva, who appeared for the American, also went to the NIA headquarters.
On March 16, the court had allowed 11-day NIA custody of the accused, identified as US national Matthew Aaron Van Dyke and Ukrainian nationals Hurba Petro, Slyviak Taras, Ivan Sukmanovskyi, Stefankiv Marian, Honcharuk Maksim, and Kaminskyi Viktor.
The foreign nationals were arrested on March 13 at three airports on charges of conspiring terrorist activities against India. The US national was detained by the Bureau of Immigration at Kolkata airport, while three Ukrainians each were detained at airports in Lucknow and Delhi.
The NIA registered an FIR the same day under Section 18 (punishment for being part of a terrorist conspiracy) of the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA), among others.
According to the FIR, the accused persons had entered India on tourist visas on separate dates, and had flown to Guwahati. From Guwahati, they had allegedly travelled to Mizoram without the requisite documents. They had then allegedly crossed the border illegally into Myanmar with the intention of carrying out a “pre-scheduled training for Myanmar-based Ethnic Armed Groups (EAGs)”, the NIA has said in its FIR.
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According to the NIA’s investigation, multiple consignments of drones from Europe were delivered by the accused persons to individuals and groups in Mizoram. According to the agency, the accused persons have disclosed to them during interrogation that they were in “direct touch and abetted in their terrorist illegal activities by unknown terrorists carrying AK47 rifles”.
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