Ranjit Bajaj and Henna Singh have resigned as directors of I-League club Punjab FC after selling off their stakes to lifestyle and wellbeing firm Round Glass.
RoundGlass had acquired 50% of the stake from Bajaj last summer but have now completed the takeover of the club, Goal.com reported. The deal led to a change in the name of the club from Minerva Punjab to Punjab FC.
The AIFF have been informed of their resignation by the couple.
However, Ranjit Bajaj who is yet to divulge full details of the takeover assured Indian football fans that he is not turning his back on Indian football.
Please don’t be alarmed 😱I @THE_RanjitBajaj am NOT going anywhere and neither is Minerva @minervapunjabfc Offcial statement with details will be out soon, can NEVER abandon @IndianFootball 🙏🏽🙏🏽🇮🇳🇮🇳😊😊 https://t.co/DTdyIrJA4q
— Ranjit Bajaj (@THE_RanjitBajaj) April 7, 2020
It is understood that Minerva FC and Punjab FC will exist as two separate entities with Bajaj likely to keep ownership of the academy while first-team operations will be taken over by RoundGlass.
Bajaj established Minerva Academy as cricket and football club in 2005. But it made its debut as a football club in the Second Division League in 2015-16 season under the name Minerva Punjab FC. Having topped their conference, Minerva finished second to Dempo in the final round, but gained promotion to the I-League as Dempo pulled out from the I-League.
After narrowly escaping relegation in their debut I-League season, Minerva made a spectacular recovery to win the I-League in 2017-18 season and have been part of the competition till date.
