The Delhi High Court has directed the Central Bureau of Investigation not to take any coercive step against a retired army officer, who is now a DRDO official, accused in a 500 crore rupees land scam case. <br/><br/>Justice Ashutosh Kumar on Wednesday issued the direction on a plea by the accused seeking to quash an FIR lodged against him by the agency under the provisions of the Prevention of Corruption Act and for offences of cheating and criminal conspiracy under the IPC.<br/><br/>While granting the interim relief to Lieutenant Colonel (Retired) M G Thimmaya, the court directed him to participate in the probe. It also issued notice to the CBI and sought its reply on the plea by the next date of hearing on October 11. The court also said that if the accused does not participate in the probe, the agency can take steps to cancel the interim protection.<br/><br/>According to the CBI, Thimmaya, while he was the Estate Manager for the Defence Research and Development Organisation in Bengaluru, and property developer N H Rustumji had allegedly defrauded the authority of several acres of land<br/><br/>acquired for it by the government. The vigilance department of the Defence Ministry had pegged the alleged scam at 500 crore rupees.<br/>