Bivas Chatterjee, a lawyer from India, has filed a public interest litigation (PIL) which seeks to force the government to introduce regulations to control cryptocurrency transactions in the country. Chatterjee, who serves as the Kolkata state nodal officer for cybercrime, filed the PIL at the high court on Friday 5th January. The petition cites incidences of tax evasion, drug trafficking and money laundering involving the dark web and cryptocurrencies, as evidence that a blanket ban on the use of cryptocurrencies, or new regulation, is required.

The Times of India reports that the legal petition contains details of a case in which two local men were arrested by the Narcotics Control Bureau for buying and selling illegal drugs on the dark web using bitcoins. The high court is due to hear the case on 2nd February 2018.

In April last year, a committee formed of officials from the Indian government and central bank produced a report which recommended a range of new regulations related to the rising popularity of digital currencies. In November 2017, the Indian supreme court asked the government to respond to increasing calls for regulation of bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies; however, no concrete proposals have been produced.