The Bombay high court on Monday expressed its surprise over the Central government's "clean chit" to the police in the Hari Masjid firing case of the 1993 Mumbai riots.

A letter to the state government from the Union Home ministry last month said that it would not hand over the case to the CBI as per its request because it thought "no case was made out" against the Assistant Inpector of Police Nikhil Kapse and his team.

The division bench of Justices Bilal Nazki and A P Deshpande wondered how the Home Ministry could exonerate police without conducting a probe.

"It is none of their business. Why did they comment on the case?" asked Justice Bilal Nazki.

The court has asked the Centre to file a detailed affidavit in two weeks explaining the decision not to hand over the case to the CBI.

Six persons had died in police firing inside Hari Masjid during the 1993 Mumbai communal riots.

A survivor Farooq Mhapkar has moved the high court, seeking a CBI probe.

The Srikrishna Commission had said in its report that the firing by the police team led by Kapse (then a sub-inspector of police) was unjustified.

The state government last month sent a proposal to the Centre, seeking transfer of the case (lodged by Mhapkar against Kapse and others) to the CBI.

But the Home Ministry declined to transfer the case to the CBI, citing the Special Task Force's report that Kapse acted "in the performance of duty".