Judging the fate of convicts on death row is not an easy job and files accessed by Mail Today show Union home minister P. Chidambaram seems to have devised his own formula to commute the sentences. The President's office had clarified that the sentences were commuted on the advice of Chidambaram. The files containing correspondence between Chidambaram and President Pratibha Patil show how the home minister played the judge, suggesting mercy to 35 death row convicts in the last 28 months.