The Trial and Execution of Maharaja Nanda Kumar: A Critical Examination of Colonial Justice, Corruption, and Power in 18th Century Bengal I. Executive Summary The 1775 trial and subsequent execution of Maharaja Nanda Kumar for forgery in Calcutta represents a seminal and profoundly contentious episode in the annals of British colonial administration in India. This event pitted a prominent Indian official, Nanda Kumar, against the formidable Governor-General of Bengal, Warren Hastings, in a direct confrontation that reverberated across continents. Historians and legal scholars widely characterize the case not as a straightforward application of justice, but rather as a "judicial murder". This designation implies a deliberate perversion of the legal process, driven by political rivalry and a personal vendetta. The Nanda Kumar affair starkly exposed fundamental deficiencies within the nascent British judicial system in India. Significant concerns arose regarding the co...