AG Sunil Manohar resigns, Anil Singh takes charge

During his brief stint as the state’s top legal officer, Sunil Manohar, who is also the son of former state advocate general and reputed criminal law expert V R Manohar, appeared for the state government in several important matters, including defending the government’s vote of confidence in the floor of the House in state assembly and its stance on corruption in irrigation scams.

He had even appeared for the government in the contentious beef ban matter that is still pending before court. Manohar’s resignation letter to Fadnavis mentions his father’s health issues as the prime reason for relinquishing the post. The senior Manohar, now an octogenarian, has undergone two bypass surgeries. Ever since his health degenerated about a month ago, sources said, Sunil Manohar had tried to persuade his father to relocate to Mumbai. In fact, sources confirmed, Fadnavis tried to convince V R Manohar to come over to Mumbai for treatment.

The senior Manohar, however, cited his old age to turn down the relocation offer. Known to be extremely close to his father, Manohar finally decided to relinquish the post and relocate to Nagpur.

In Nagpur, Manohar reiterated that he had resigned from the post purely for “personal” reasons and said “there was no clash of interest with the government or in any other regard”.

“I had a very cordial association with the government,” he said. Asked if quitting such a coveted post was a tough call, Manohar said, “I was never so enamoured by it. There are no feelings of any big loss.” Asked how was he feeling after coming back to his home town, Manohar said, “The feeling is very nice. In fact it feels better.”

(With inputs from Vivek Deshpande in Nagpur)