EastEnders actor Jaz Singh Deol and co-stars address Kheerat Panesar's surprise exit

EastEnders actor Jaz Singh Deol has departed the soap after three years playing Kheerat Panesar.

Thursday's (November 10) episode saw Kheerat go ahead with his plan to take the fall for Ranveer Gulati's murder in place of mum Suki, and it's been confirmed that this is the actor's last appearance.

Jaz marked his departure by sharing some black-and-white photos of himself with the cast on Instagram, writing: "Love you. love you all."

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Plenty of cast members sent him well wishes in the comments, led by Suki actress Balvinder Sopal, who wrote: "Fly, now. The world is your oyster."

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"Peace out brother," commented Stacey Slater actress Lacey Turner, while Zack Hudson actor James Farrar said: "Mate I’ll miss you. I believed every single second. Go and fly brother."

"Dance partner. Brother. Continue to shine," added Ravi actor Aaron Thiara.

Kheerat's final scenes saw him make an emotional farewell to Stacey before his arrest.

"I have held my family together, I have fought for my brothers, I have mediated between my sister and my mum," he told her. "And I've pushed myself to be this superhuman businessman and I lost myself.

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"You are the one that's found me, but this is bigger than this. If my mum goes to prison, my entire family's going to fall apart, and I can't let that happen."

This exit comes ahead of Danny Dyer's Mick Carter leaving the soap over the New Year period, in what are sure to be explosive scenes.

"It's Mick's last Christmas ― and it's pretty epic," boss Chris Clenshaw said. "Do people want Mick and Janine to go off into the sunset, though? Well you'll have to wait and see. I hope the audience will be pleased. All I'll say is that it is a tragic love story."

EastEnders airs on Mondays - Thursdays at 7.30pm on BBC One. The show also streams on BBC iPlayer.