New Delhi: In a setback to Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) leader Kumar Vishwas, the Delhi High Court, Friday, refused to stay a summon issued to him by Delhi Commission for Women (DCW) on a complaint filed by a volunteer alleging that he was not rebutting "rumours" about their illicit liaison.

In his plea, Kumar had sought that the woman be restrained from making any public statement and questioned the authority of DCW to issue such summons.

Vishwas has alleged that DCW chairperson Barkha Shukla Singh is working under some political vendetta against him.

However, the High Court refused to interfere in the case, leaving Vishwas with few options other than appearing before the DCW.

In another development, reports today suggested that the Delhi government wants DCW chief Barkha Singh sacked from her post.

Vishwas and his wife and two others were first asked by DCW to appear before it on May 4 and later a fresh summons for May 6 was issued after they had failed to appear.

Acting on the woman's complaint, the Commission had said that the volunteer had worked for a year in Amethi for the party and now it is a matter of her respect and honour, so Kumar Vishwas should turn up and give his clarification.

In an interview to various news channels, the lady had alleged that Vishwas threatened her to stay quiet or else she would be killed like AAP leader Santosh Koli.

Koli, who was to contest Delhi Assembly polls, was killed in a road accident in 2013.

The lady had said she had campaigned alongside Vishwas, who was pitted against Congress vice president Rahul Gandhi, in Amethi during 2014 Lok Sabha elections.

She had later found out reports that claimed that the AAP leader's wife caught him in the company of one of the volunteers in Amethi.

But later she had received a message on social media, first on Facebook and later on WhatsApp, showing her picture as the female volunteer Vishwas was accused of having illicit relationship with.

Demanding that Vishwas' wife come forward and give an explanation, the lady had said that she filed a complaint at Nand Nagri Police Station here in this regard on March 29, 2015. However, the police did not pay heed to her complaint.

With agency inputs