Mangal Pandey was an Indian soldier who played a key part in events immediately preceding the outbreak of the Indian rebellion of 1857.Mangal Pandey, a resident of Ballia, in Uttar Pradesh, was a soldier in the army of the British East India Company. At the time of the First War of Independence, the company introduced new rifles, which used animal fat for greasing the cartridges. Influenced by the example of his compatriots in Berhampur, Mangal Panday refused to use the greased cartridges and broke into open mutiny on March 29, 1857, at Barrackpore near Calcutta and urged his comrades to join him.