Dissatisfied with the pace of the CBI probe into the 1993 Hari Masjid firing case, the Bombay High Court on Friday said it would monitor the progress of investigation from now.

The 25-page report of investigations made in the past six months, submitted by the agency, failed to impress the Division Bench of Justice Bilal Nazki and Justice AR Joshi. They observed that it contained only letters and correspondence to various authorities seeking information and names of 51 witnesses whose statements have been recorded.

“It’s at snail’s pace. It will take another 16 years,” the judges remarked when the CBI counsel submitted that certain things are out of their control as the case is 16 years old. When the CBI counsel sought six more months to complete the investigations, Justice Nazki said the court will monitor the case and gave four weeks’ time to show the progress. He said it is a complicated case but noted that the CBI was not interested in the case from day one.

The high court had on December 18, 2008, directed the CBI to register an offence to investigate the case and file a report within six months on a petition filed by a victim — Farook Mapkar. The CBI had filed a first information report in the case in February against the then police sub-inspector, Nikhil Kapse, who was held “guilty of unjustified firing” and “inhuman and brutal behaviour” by the Srikrishna Commission report.

Mapkar, who was chargesheeted for murder and rioting in 1992-93, had urged the court to initiate action against Kapse. Mapkar, whose trial was separated from the case after he raised objections, was acquitted of all charges by the city civil and sessions court earlier this year.