Ballia (UP), Mar 26 (PTI) Twenty CPI (ML) activists, protesting in Sikandarpur township of the district on the 'Bharat Bandh' called by farmer unions, were taken into custody here on Friday.

Those taken into custody included CPI-ML leader Shri Ram Chaudhary, said Sikandarpur police station in-charge, Amar Jeet Yadav.

He said, however, there was no effect of the bandh in the area, where elaborate security arrangements had been made.

The CPI (ML) activists, who had reached the township to stage a protest and make the 'Bharat Bandh' called by the Samyukt Kisan Morcha (SKM) successful, were taken into custody here in the forenoon, Yadav said.

Recently, Bhartiya Kisan Union (BKU) leader Rakesh Singh Tikait had addressed Kisan Mahapanchayat in Sikandarpur, which was organised by Chaudhary.

The 'Bharat Bandh' has been called by the SKM, an umbrella body of farmer unions protesting the three contentious central agri laws. The nationwide shutdown has been scheduled from 6 am to 6 to mark four months of the farmers' agitation on Delhi's three borders -- Singhu, Ghazipur and Tikri.

(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)