Jaz Deol played Kheerat and first stepped into Albert Square in 2019 alongside his brother, Jags, played by Amar Adatia.
The pair first arrived in Walford to confront Ben Mitchell over a stolen car, and when Ben failed to pay them back, Jags kidnapped Lola Pearce (Danielle Harold).
Ben and Martin Fowler later rescued Lola as Kheerat berated his brother for his kidnapping.
Weeks later, the Panesar family moved to Albert Square and became involved in many EastEnders storylines.
In November 2022, the actor behind Kheerat, Jaz Deol, chose to leave the show in an exit that saw the character sent to prison to serve a life sentence for the murder of Ranveer Gulati.
Fans of EastEnders are now calling for Kheerat’s return after revealing they were not happy with his exit storyline.
EastEnders fans call for the return of Kheerat Panesar
Taking to the social media site Reddit, in the group r/EastEnders, one fan of the BBC soap said: “BRING KHEERAT BACK!!! Need to see him with his family again.”
The post gained mass attention on Reddit, with many fans of the soap agreeing.
One EastEnders reviewer said: “It’d be great to have Kheerat back”, as a second added: “I’d love to see Kheerat return. Interesting to think of him with Stacey after Martin – but not sure how I feel about that.”
Recommended Reading
Others said they would like for the character to return, but think it would only happen if the BBC recast the role.
As a fan wrote: “If they decide to reintroduce Kheerat, they will likely recast the role since he opted to depart.”
Another EastEnders viewer said, “It would be interesting” to see Kheerat return: “It would be interesting to see him back and see how antagonistic he would be towards Ravi, given he hasn’t been around to witness his character change.”