It’s a time-tested trick played by our police whenever the rich and powerful are to be protected in a criminal case. Dilute the charge-sheet. Or, file a strong chargesheet and then ensure that during the proceedings (when media attention has moved away) important documents or pieces of evidence are not produced or fudged. There’s an old yarn in the country’s lower courts which goes like this: “Better than the best defense lawyer is a helpful prosecutor.” The Kim Davy extradition case is a replay of this old tradition.