EastEnders favourite Kheerat Panesar (Jaz Deol) has left fans devastated after being sentenced to life in prison recently.
Kheerat made a huge impact on the Square as he held together the Panesar family until their dad Nish Panesar's (Navin Choudhry) release from a 20 year stint in prison.
During his time in Walford, he dated iconic matriarch Stacey Slater (Lacey Turner), nearly murdered Ben Mitchell (Max Bowden) for his part in his brother Jags' death, and exposed serial killer Gray Atkins for killing his wife Chantelle (Jessica Plummer).
With the usually kind-hearted businessman now set to spend the rest of his life in prison, what did he do and is Kheerat really leaving EastEnders for good?
What did Kheerat do in EastEnders?
Recently in the soap, Kheerat was sentenced to life in prison after he took the fall for Ranveer Gulati's (Anil Goutam) murder in order to save his mum, Suki Panesar (Balvinder Sopal).
The Panesar family had been reeling since Suki was arrested for the murder of Ranveer and were pulling out all the stops to prevent her from going to prison — but their plan was scuppered when Ravi Gulati (Aaron Thiara) didn't give the alibi as promised after his lover/step-mum Nina Gupta (Hersha Verity) forced him to lie to make Suki look guilty.
Unbeknownst to the Panesars, it was actually Ravi who killed Ranveer and has made Suki believe that she has.
After the police released Suki from custody, protective son Kheerat decided to take the blame for the murder as he refused to let Suki be sent down.
Is Kheerat leaving EastEnders?
Sadly, it has been confirmed that Kheerat has left the soap after three years as he went through with his plan to take the blame for Ranveer's murder and was sentenced to life in prison.
An EastEnders spokesperson told Digital Spy: "We can confirm that Jaz has left EastEnders and we wish him all the very best for the future."
During his tear-jerking exit episode (Thursday, November 10), after telling Eve Unwin (Heather Peace) about his plan, Eve then revealed his scheme to girlfriend Stacey who confronted Suki and shared the news about her son's idea.
Suki demanded that Kheerat abandon the plan, refusing to let him go down for murder.
Ignoring her advice, he confided in his siblings Ash (Gurlaine Kaur Garcha) and Vinny (Shiv Jalota) about what he was going to do, before paying a final visit to a devastated Stacey who sobbed as she begged him to back down from his idea.
Despite their emotional pleas, Kheerat was determined to go through with his plan and the police showed up to arrest him.
Stacey and his family wept as they watched him get arrested, with Kheerat and Stacey sharing one final emotional exchange.
"Don't forget about me," Stacey said.
"I couldn't, even if I tried," he replied as he was put into a police car and driven out of the Square.
After his soap exit, Jaz took to Instagram to say goodbye to his on-screen family and girlfriend by sharing a montage of pictures with the caption: "Love you. love you all. X"
The official EastEnders Instagram page also posted an emotional farewell to Kheerat, commemorating the moment with one final picture of the Panesars all together, who were the first Sikh family to be introduced to the soap.
EastEnders airs Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday evenings at 7.30 pm on BBC One — see our TV Guide for full listings. You can also catch up on episodes on BBC iPlayer now.
