A Delhi court granted the NIA a 90-day extension to investigate a UAPA case against six Ukrainians and a US national. They are accused of illegally entering Myanmar to train an ethnic war group. Their judicial custody was also extended.
Court grants NIA 90-day extension to probe foreign nationals
Special Court at Patiala House on Thursday granted 90 more days to NIA to complete the investigation of the UAPA case against six Ukrainians and one US national. The court has also extended the Judicial custody of the accused persons for 30 days till July 3.
It is alleged that the accused persons came to India on a tourist visa. Thereafter, they went to Mizoram without the required documents and entered Myanmar illegally. They were to conduct a pre-scheduled training for the Myanmar-based Ethnic War Group (EWG).
NIA’s Plea for More Time
The NIA had sought a 90-day extension of time to complete the investigation. The agency sought time in view of a criminal conspiracy having Pan-India and trans-National linkages and to unearth the larger conspiracy.
The 90-day period from the date of arrest is expiring on June 10.
The period of investigation is permitted to be extended upto 180 days under UAPA. Special Judge (NIA) Prashant Sharma granted 90 days time to NIA to complete the investigation.
Details of the Accused
Accused persons, namely Matthew Aaron Van Dyke (US) and 6 Ukrainians, namely Hurba Petro, Slyviak Taras, Ivan Sukmanovskyi, Stefankiv Marian, Honcharuk Maksim and Kaminskyi Viktor, were arrested on March 13 at the airports of Kolkata, Lucknow and New Delhi.
Court Proceedings and Arguments
Accused persons were produced through video conferencing. Special NIA Judge Prashant Sharma extended the Judicial custody of accsued persons, saying, “Investigation is pending, as on date. The reasons based on which judicial custody remand of accused persons is sought by the Chief Investigation Officer on the grounds of scrutiny and extraction reports for various digital devices are pending from CERT-In, Delhi and CFSL, analyse the reports, and to find out the Indian/Foreign entities involved with the accused persons, as such, a justified extension of judicial custody remand of accused persons.”
Counsel for accused persons opposed the application, stating that there is no reason based on which judicial custody remand of accused persons can be extended for 30 days from now.
The main opposition was on the ground that the judicial custody extension application should be heard alongwith default bail application on June 10, the 90th day of arrest. The 90-day period prescribed for investigation under UAPA is going to be expired June 10.
Special Public Prosecutor (SPP) Rahul Tyagi alongwith Jatin and Amit Rohila, appeared for the NIA. On the other hand, advocate Nitin Saluja appeared for the Ukrainians accused, Advocates Rohit Dandriyal and Rohit Gour appeared for the US National.
Grounds for Extension
The NIA sought 90 more days on the grounds that the NIA is investigating the deep-rooted criminal conspiracy having Pan-India and trans-National linkages, and thereby, it will not be possible to conclude the investigation in 90 days.
It was also stated that the investigation of the case is at an important stage, and the roles of the accused persons are being investigated. The agency had also said that it had seized a number of devices in the ongoing investigation, and needs time to analyse the said seized devices.
Further, NIA said that it has identified a number of bank accounts and other sources of funds used by the accused persons. A thorough financial analysis is required to complete the investigation.
The NIA said that the extension of the period of investigation is required to unearth the larger conspiracy and for a logical conclusion of the investigation. It is also submitted that, if the accused are released on bail, they may flee jurisdiction and destroy witnesses.
The NIA said that the investigation and extraction report of a few devices has been collected, which is under scrutiny and extraction reports for various digital devices are pending from CERT-In, Delhi and CFSL, Delhi. It was also stated that more time is required to finalise the investigation, as analysis of the extracted data of digital devices seized during the course of the investigation will be done after receiving the report and the extracted data from CERT-In/CFSL.
The NIA also said that it wants to conduct a field investigation to examine entities from Mizoram. It is also stated that a detailed analysis of suspicious bank accounts is required to be done.
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