East Bengal’s investor Shree Cement will not clear the salary dues of the seven players who had moved the players status committee of the All India Football Federation seeking justice.

“We will not. Those players were signed by East Bengal. The investor will respect the contractual obligations of the footballers signed by the SC East Bengal team management,” a senior official of SC East Bengal told The Telegraph on Monday.

This means East Bengal are now staring at a transfer ban for non-payment of salary as mentioned by the players status committee in its February 9 report.

“That’s something the club has to deal with. We have nothing to do with it,” the official added.

The total amount the investor would have had to pay was around Rs 1.42 crore. The move doesn’t come as a surprise since Shree Cement has already decided to end its two-season tumultuous association with East Bengal.

“Yes we will no longer be with East Bengal. We will give back the sporting rights as received by us in September 2020, because we do not want football and fans to suffer. It’s no point staying when the club has no intention to sign the final agreement,” the official said.

Shree Cement has invested around Rs 1.04 crore in total for team building and other expenses during ISL VII and VIII. SC East Bengal got Rs 14 crore from the league’s central pool last season and this time the expected amount could be Rs 2 crore less or same as last season’s. “The net amount spent should be around Rs 80 crore,” the official revealed.

SC East Bengal finished ninth in the 11-team league last season and in the ongoing season they finished last, recording just one victory.

“Even if SC East Bengal were champions the investor would not have continued. As we had maintained no more investment without signing of the final agreement,” he said.

The seven players who have been left in the lurch are Cavin Lobo, Keegan Perreira, Rino Anto, CK Vineeth, Girik Khosla, Eugeneson Lyngdoh and Anil Chavan.

“What SC East Bengal is saying is partly true. Yes some players were signed by the club and not by the present dispensation but Vineeth and Lyngdoh had SC East Bengal contracts. The AIFF and league owners, FSDL, also could have put pressure on the team management to pay up,” a source said.