A special NIA court at Rouse Avenue on Thursday allowed US national Matthew Aaron Van Dyke and six Ukrainian citizens, arrested by the National Investigation Agency (NIA) in March, to travel to their respective countries for 30 days, subject to certain conditions.All the seven foreign nationals were released after the court allowed applications moved by Van Dyke and others seeking release of their passports and permission to travel to their respective countries.However, the court ordered that they must return to India after 30 days.Van Dyke was lodged in Tihar jail, while the six Ukrainians nationals were lodged in Rohini jail.Earlier on September 23, the court had reserved its order on Van Dyke’s application seeking to visit his family in the US, while granting default bail to the six Ukrainians.Van Dyke had already been granted default bail last week by the special court.The foreign nationals were granted default bail after the NIA had dropped UAPA charges against them, under which they were initially arrested, and had charged them under only immigration offences.The NIA had arrested Van Dyke on March 13 in connection with alleged offences under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA). The six Ukrainian nationals were also arrested in March in connection with the same case.According to the agency, the accused had entered India on tourist visas and travelled to the Northeast without obtaining the mandatory permits. The NIA alleged that they subsequently crossed illegally from Mizoram into Myanmar, where they were involved in providing drone-warfare training to ethnic armed organisations.However, in a dramatic turnaround, the NIA dropped the UAPA charges against them in its chargesheet filed before the special court on September 8. It only charged all the seven under immigration offences.The agency further informed the court that though the UAPA provisions had not been included in the chargesheet, the investigation under the anti-terror law remained open.Van Dyke’s legal team argued that as the NIA had failed to prove UAPA charges against him even after 180 days of incarceration, therefore he should be granted default bail.Subsequently the court did the needful and even said that the Ukrainian nationals too could avail of the bail provisions.This virtually cleared the way for Van Dyke and the six Ukrainians to seek relief and the court’s permission to travel to their respective countries.Van Dyke’s family had earlier sought diplomatic intervention from the US, alleging that he had been denied basic detainee rights while lodged in Tihar Jail.Sons of Liberty International, the NGO founded by Dyke, had said in a statement on August 30 that US Ambassador to India Sergio Gor had “previously briefed Foreign Secretary Vikram Misri and Secretary of State Marco Rubio on Matthew’s situation during his (Rubio’s) visit to Delhi on May 24-26”.