Matthew van Dyke says India is acting as part of a Russian operation, accuses India of prison excesses

New Delhi: The US national Matthew Van Dyke, who, along with six Ukrainian nationals, was granted default bail in September after an imprisonment of six months, has alleged that India’s actions were in coordination with Russia’s aggression in Ukraine.

Van Dyke made the comments on a social media platform and also said he would publicly reveal the “shocking details” of his imprisonment.

In a post on X, he said, “India threw me and several Ukrainians in prison for over six months.” He added that this was part of Russia’s war against Ukraine. He said, “I will reveal shocking details about this story over the next few months in both posts and media interviews.”

The National Investigative Agency (NIA) arrested the seven foreigners, including Van Dyke, in March this year, alleging that they travelled through Mizoram into Myanmar to train ethnic armed groups in drone warfare. Following the incident, they were charged with the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA) for their alleged involvement in the Manipur arms training case.

However, the NIA in September dropped the terror charges against them and only proceeded under Sections 21 and 23 of the Immigration and Foreigners Act – sections that allow certain offences to be resolved administratively, before the Foreigners Regional Registration Office (FRRO).

In addition to this, a special NIA court even granted all seven foreign nationals default bail, following which Van Dyke travelled to the US for a month to see his family. On October 23, however, Van Dyke appeared before a Delhi court to return to his home country until February 24 next year, after he appeared before it. The court, at the time, also allowed NIA three months to conduct further investigation into Van Dyke’s alleged involvement in the case.

Currently in the US, Van Dyke has become active on X and is engaging with comments on his post, clarifying his position. He has been responding to criticism and questions on his post. Engaging with users in his comments, he said that the “Indian government never accused me of doing anything against India.” Responding to another user who accused the US government of freeing Van Dyke, he asked whether the user really thought that the US government secured his release, in a way denying that any such thing happened.

Furthermore, he has also said that he would be back in India for a court hearing in February, just as he appeared for one in October. He denied being a mercenary. On being asked by one used what he was doing on the Indo-Myanmar border, he said, “I run a charity organization, we do our missions for free and I spent money on this mission, I wasn’t paid for it. Certainly not a mercenary.”

This comes after The Print reported that Van Dyke, in a handwritten affidavit to the American embassy, alleged that he was repeatedly assaulted in prison, where he spent nearly six months, and was punched in the chest. He also claimed that he was denied medical treatment for almost 24 hours, even though he needed immediate attention.