Captain Ambigdon laid a siege of Malanggad in 1897. The Marathas usually lie low during the monsoons and do not like to fight. Knowing this quite well, he decided to plan an attack on this fort and on the complacent Marathas in the middle of heavy rains. He cut off the routes to the North East and the North as soon as the battle commenced. He decided to take the Peer (machi) first. Pandurang Ketkar, along with his 300 trusted Maratha soldiers were guarding it. Surprised by the attack, the Marathas could not defend themselves. Out of them 125 soldiers ran toward the Sone Machi. As there was no more space on the fort, the rest of them ran towards the Mamledar of Kalyan. To reach the top of the fort, Captain Ambigdon made his own way right from base of the fort to the Peer Machi. Nana Phadnis tried to break the siege to the fort, but could not succeed. Ambigdon brought and set up 3 cannons on the Peer Machi and started bombarding the Sone Machi from there. Because of the strategic positioning of the main entrance of the fort, the bombs did not reach it. The link to the outside world and the fort could not be enforced as the Marathas knew many secret routes and kept the communication channels open. The Fort Commander requested for help from Anandrao Dhulap and Kashi Pant, who sent 700 troops without personally coming for help. These troops, however, could not reach there. Captain Ambigdon laid rope ladders and 250 of his troops reached the Peer Machi with the help of those ladders. The Marathas, however, drove these troops back by throwing rocks and stones on them. Ambigdon then removed the cannons from the Peer Machi. Taking this opportunity Gangadharrao replenished his ammunition and grain stores. Nana Phadnis then sent Balaji Vishwanath Pathak and Radhovishwanath Godbole with troops to break the siege. They, along with their troops reached the village of Shirval, which is at the North of Malanggad. The Maratha troop was around 3000 strong. They tried to drive away the enemy but were not successful. On September 16, a division of Gardi soldiers marched across the Peer Machi. The British had to hurriedly clear the cannons due to this attack. Major Westfield sent some more enforcement to help Captain Ambigdon.
This enforced army besieged the Maratha division bringing reinforcements into the fort. The guardians of the fort had to face the shortage of food grains and other essential commodities. Some food grains rotted because of the rains and the coffers started getting empty. Similarly, the Marathas had also broken down the supply lines of the English Army. Colonel Hartlane then secured the route going through Belapur, Panvel and Taloje. They then attacked the Maratha troops stationed at Shirval and drove them off. Now, the British Captain Carpenter led the second attack over Malanggad. He also started pounding the fort with cannon fire. Around 350 troops were waiting for a breach in the fortification to get into the fort but Ketkar defended the fort with great strategy. There were many casualties in the English army and they stopped the attack. The English decided to bring the Marathas to surrender by laying a complete siege and starving them.
After October, the condition in the fort became more critical. Gangadhar Karlekar could not send any support to the fort from outside. In the end, Nana Phadnis took some sardars under his hand and gathered a massive army, which attacked Vasai and Malanggad. Nand Phadnis himself, along with Haripanth Phadke and the massive army came to Khandala and decided to go down towards Kalyan via the Rajmachi route. This strategy was to intimidate Hartlane and it succeeded. Colonel Hartland immediately withdrew he siege of Malanggad fort and the Marathas could send ammunition and food to Malanggad, thus preventing the fall of the fort till the end.
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