By Tejas Navale

Pune, August 21, 2024: In a significant development, the team of the Enforcement Directorate (ED) arrested the former chairman of Pune Zilla Parishad, Mangaldas Bandal, on Tuesday. Earlier, the ED conducted raids on his residences at Muhammadwadi, Shikrapur, and Burunjwadi (Shirur) in Pune on Tuesday morning at around 6:30 a.m.

As per the primary information, it is learnt that an amount of Rs 5.60 crore was found in the residence of Bandal, and he was arrested by the ED in the money laundering case.

On the morning of August 20, ED teams raided the residence of Mangaldas Bandal, who had earlier served as the chairman of Pune Zilla Parishad. Sources said that this action was taken in accordance with the money laundering charges against Mangaldas Bandal. Bandal was served notice in this regard four times. However, in the 16-hour-long investigation, ED seized goods worth Rs 5.60 crore. Further, Bandal was also found in possession of five luxurious cars and four wrist watches worth Rs 1 crore.

Notably, this is not the first case when Mangaldas Bandal was arrested by law officials. Earlier, on May 26, 2021, Bandal was arrested by police for the misappropriation of money in Pune's Shivajirao Bhosale Cooperative Bank. In that case, Bandal served 20 months of imprisonment until he was released by the court on bail before the 2024 Lok Sabha election.

Who is Mangaldas Bandal?

Bandal is a politically active figure in the Shirur area of Pune, and he also served as the chairman of the Pune Zilla Parishad. In the recently concluded Lok Sabha elections, Bandal had earlier been given a ticket from Vanchit Bahujan Aghadi for the Shirur Lok Sabha Election. However, it was later scrapped and given to Dr. Anwar Shaikh after Bandal met Deputy Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis in Indapur. Meanwhile, it was also said that he was planning to contest the upcoming assembly elections, and for that, he had already started preparations.

However, the recent action against him will be a serious blow to his political ambitions.