The drive was a part of an operation to check the increasing number of robberies taking place near banks. It also included monitoring the alertness of the guards posted at the banks in the event of a shoot-out.

It was the bearded men in white coloured Maruti cars who found themselves bearing the brunt of the drive since police investigations have indicated that the assailants involved in the recent robberies near banks used white Maruti cars.

The other linking factor in all the robberies that have taken place in proximity to the banks is that the assailants accosted men who had just withdrawn cash from the bank or were heading to the bank to deposit cash.

In most of the cases, the assailants shot at the victim, before fleeing with the cash he happened to be possessing in a white Maruti car waiting nearby as a getaway vehicle. A police officer disclosed that one of the assailants involved in the robberies was said to be a bearded man in his twenties.

Senior officers told Express Newsline that ``the drive also included checking the preparedness of guards posted in banks. We were also on the lookout for a list of stolen vehicles. Investigations of the robberies near banks have shown that the robbers have used stolen vehicles in the robberies.''

During the current operation, the police were specifically looking for the assailants who shot at a man and allegedly robbed him of cash amounting to Rs 1 lakh just outside the Bank of Bikaner and Jaipur on Deshbandhu Gupta Road in Karol Bagh on August 31.

Dilip Taparia was on his way to the bank to have a demand draft issued against Rs 1 lakh. Just as he got off his bike outside the bank, a man approached him and getting hold of it, fled with the bag containing the money.

When Taparia chased him, the assailant reportedly opened fire, hitting him in the head. The assailant then joined three others who were waiting nearby in a white Maruti car. The victim died the next day in hospital. However, the police have not made any arrests in this regard.