Our app update got rejected by Google because we had REQUEST_INSTALL_PACKAGES in the Manifest. We removed it, uploaded a new version and it still got rejected. We then added
<uses-permission
android:name="android.permission.REQUEST_INSTALL_PACKAGES"
tools:node="remove"/>
as suggested here on SO, but to no avail. We continue to get rejected. There is no REQUEST_INSTALL_PACKAGES in our Manfiest and not in the Merged Manifest either. What are we missing?
You might have a version uploaded in alpha/beta/internal channel. Try to update that too.