Let $G=(V,E)$ be a connected graph. A subset $S$ of $V$ is called a $\gamma$-free set if there exists a $\gamma$-set $D$ of $G$ such that $S \cap D= \emptyset$. If further the induced subgraph $H=G[V-S]$ is connected, then $S$ is called a $cc$-$\gamma$-free set of $G$. We use this concept to identify connected induced subgraphs $H$ of a given graph $G$ such that $\gamma(H) \leq \gamma(G)$. We also introduce the concept of $\gamma$-totally-free and $\gamma$-fixed sets and present several basic results on the corresponding parameters.