An organisation founded by VanDyke released a statement clarifying that the anti-terrorism provisions within the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act had not been invoked in the matter, and conveyed the group's expectation that the National Investigation Agency's ongoing proceedings against him would conclude in due course. VanDyke, an American national, identifies his professional background as security analysis.
A New Delhi court granted VanDyke permission on 24 September to spend a month in the United States, with conditions attached requiring him to join any investigative proceedings via video call on request and notify the court within 72 hours of any return to India. A statement on his behalf noted that he had made the journey back to reconnect with family and friends.
Sons of Liberty International, an organisation VanDyke established, put out a statement on X expressing a desire for the matter to reach a swift resolution and for the case to be formally closed, a post that VanDyke subsequently shared on his own account. According to its own statements, Sons of Liberty International offers no-cost combat training to Christian fighters engaged against the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria.
The group expressed gratitude to donors who contributed to the legal fundraiser and reached out with words of encouragement following VanDyke's detention in India, while also urging continued contributions through its website at www.sonsoflibertyinternational.com to cover what it described as remaining legal costs — a characterisation that may point to the case against its founder nearing a conclusion in that country.
Prosecutors with the NIA informed a New Delhi court the previous month that their probe into VanDyke and the six Ukrainian nationals remained ongoing. Default bail was extended to the accused after the NIA's chargesheet, submitted the previous month, stopped short of incorporating anti-terror provisions available under the UAPA. According to those with knowledge of the matter, the NIA's probe under the UAPA remained open and active.
Kolkata's airport became the site of VanDyke's detention on 13 March, while six Ukrainian nationals faced apprehension at separate terminals in Delhi and Lucknow around the same period. Court documents show the NIA charged all seven individuals with entering Myanmar from Indian territory without authorisation, where they purportedly delivered weapons handling and drone-warfare instruction to ethnic armed organisations, activities the agency contends ran counter to national security. The organisation further put forward that the unmanned aerial vehicles had been sourced from within Europe before making their way into the country via India.
When the NIA opened its inquiry, it filed charges under the UAPA, alleging that VanDyke and the six Ukrainian nationals had jointly plotted to conduct activities directed against India's interests.
On 23 May, relatives of VanDyke stated that his detention had been brought to the attention of Indian Foreign Secretary Vikram Misri by US Ambassador to New Delhi Sergio Gor. On 8 August, a telephone conversation took place between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and US Vice President J D Vance, though neither the Indian nor the American government has put on record whether the detention of a US national and several Ukrainians at Tihar Jail in Delhi featured in those discussions. A second encounter between Gor and Misri took place on the tenth of August.
Opposition legislators put the BJP-led government's handling of relations with Washington under scrutiny, asking whether external pressure had shaped its decisions, while ruling party representatives attributed that line of inquiry to electoral positioning rather than any substantive policy concern.
On 30 August, members of VanDyke's family submitted a formal appeal to US authorities, contending that he was being held in isolation at Tihar Jail, that his physical condition had worsened, and that access to fundamental rights had not been provided to him.
A chargesheet lodged by the NIA on 8 September named all seven individuals under Sections 21 and 23 of the Immigration and Foreigners Act, 2025 — a statute that sets out penalties covering unlawful entry into India, overstaying permitted periods, and failures by foreign nationals or hosting parties to meet their legal obligations. No charges under the UAPA were brought against them by the agency.
