Shree Cement Limited on Tuesday officially ended their topsy-turvy two-year association with East Bengal by handing over the sporting rights to the Kolkata heavyweight side.
In a last ditch attempt by West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee, the Hari Mohan Bangur-owned cement conglomerate bought a majority stake of 76 per cent in the beleaguered East Bengal to help them enter India Super League in 2020-21.
Confirming the development, Shree Cement Ltd CEO Col Shibaji Samaddar told PTI: “Yes, Shree Cement has moved out of East Bengal after two seasons.
“The process to hand over the sporting rights was on for the last couple of days.
“They did not sign the final agreement and as per the term sheet the association was for two years, so it finally ended,” he added.
It was at the behest of CM Mamata Banerjee, Shree Cement had agreed to continue for the last ISL edition where the club went worse as they finished at the bottom of the table with just one win from 20 matches, losing 11 and drawing on eight occasions.
Under Robbie Fowler, East Bengal had a poor ninth place finish in their maiden ISL season with nine losses, eight draws and just three wins.
