The Congress said the arrest was an attempt by the centre to distract the masses (File)

Lok Sabha MP Karti Chidambaram on Tuesday compared Enforcement Directorate with 'Gestapo'-- a secret police in Adolf Hitler's Nazi Germany-- after the agency arrested Congress leader DK Shivakumar in a money laundering case.

"Gestapo at work! What else can the Enforcement Directorate do other than harass Congress leaders!" he tweeted.

'Geheime Staatspolizei', commonly known as 'Gestapo', was formed in 1933 by Hitler's aide Hermann Goring. The agency had played a key role in eliminating Hitler's political opponents.

The Enforcement Directorate, which was questioning Mr Shivakumar over the last four days, said he was not cooperating with the investigation and needed to be questioned while in custody. The agency will produce him in court on Wednesday to seek his custody.

The Congress said the arrest was an attempt by the centre to distract the masses from their "failed policies" and the "sorry state" of the economy.

Reacting to the ED action, Mr Shivakumar took a dig at the BJP, "congratulating" his friends in the ruling party for "finally being successful in their mission of arresting" him.

"I congratulate my BJP friends for finally being successful in their mission of arresting me. The IT and ED cases against me are politically motivated and I am a victim of BJP's politics of vengeance and vendetta," Mr Shivakumar tweeted.

Karti Chidambaram's father, former Union minister P Chidambaram is currently in the CBI custody in a case involving media company INX Media. The Central Bureau of Investigation, which made the arrest last month after a day of dramatic developments, contended that he was not cooperating with the investigation.

A decision on former Union Minister P Chidambaram's appeal seeking protection from arrest by the Enforcement Directorate, will be taken on September 5, the Supreme Court said recently.

The CBI alleges that as finance minister in 2007, Mr Chidambaram facilitated a huge infusion of overseas funds to the media company INX Media co-founded by Peter and Indrani Mukerjea, at the instance of his son Karti Chidambaram, who allegedly received kickbacks.

In 2018, Karti Chidambaram was arrested by the CBI in the same case.