Former Coal Secretary HC Gupta, an accused in several coal scam cases on Saturday withdrew his application seeking to pull out a personal bail bond in a case involving MP-based Kamal Sponge Steel and Power Ltd (KSSPL) and others and face trial from jail. This follows at the intervention of the IAS Association, whose delegation also met the PM last week to impress upon him the need to protect retired civil servants from legal and administrative harassment. There have also been reports of the Association raising money to finance Gupta's legal ordeal. Gupta told Special CBI Judge Bharat Parashar that he would continue to engage a lawyer to represent him in the case, retracting from his earlier submission that he was facing financial constraints and could not manage the advocate's fees from his pension amount. The court allowed Gupta to withdraw his plea. On August 16, while moving his application, Gupta had said he did not wish to examine any witness in his defence in the case and intended to face the trial from inside the jail. The court, after an extensive enquiry from him and his family members about the reasons for filing such a plea, had said he could be provided services of an advocate from New Delhi Legal Aid Services Authority or an amicus curiae can be appointed on his behalf. Gupta had then refused to avail of such services.