04 August 2023 , 19:13
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Emmerdale's Rishi Sharma's cause of death was revealed on Friday's episode after fans had feared a "sinister" twist. Last week, as Jai Sharma and Laurel Thomas celebrated their wedding together with their family and friends, Rishi was not present, having fallen out with his son over lying about who his father really was.
In an emotional speech, Jai spoke of celebrating absent friends, as he thanked his dad Rishi for always supporting him and vowed to talk to him soon and tell him how much he meant to him. And, in true soap style, the camera then panned to see Rishi lying dead at the bottom of the stairs in a heartbreaking twist with his body discovered by Jai last Friday.
Emmerdale's Rishi Sharma's cause of death was revealed on Friday's episode (ITV Plc)Soap watchers had been quick to speculate Rishi's cause of death with many wondering if he fell down the stairs or if he had a heart attack due to his past heart issues. However, some viewers predicted a more sinister twist and that Rishi could have been pushed down the stairs as they questioned who could be a suspect.
However, despite viewers' speculation, Rishi's cause of death was revealed on Friday's episode as accidental fall. Jai told new wife Laurel: "Dad's body has been released. The coroner has confirmed the death as accidental fall." To which Laurel replied: "Oh Jai, I know you thought it was his heart so that's a huge weight lifted." Jai added: "Yeah, it is, now I can concentrate on giving him the best send off that I can."
It comes after Emmerdale's Bhasker Patel broke his silence after his much-loved character, Rishi, died in a shock twist after 12 years in the village. Appearing on Lorraine with co-star Chris Bisson, who plays Jai, Rishi star Bhasker, 67, got teary over his emotional ITV soap exit and revealed that producers decided to kill his character off.
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He said: "When the producer rang me and said: 'I need to talk to you and we're killing you off because we want a big story and it's going to be a big surprise.' Because my 12 years at ITV, they let me do a lot of other work, so I felt a part of ITV, a part of Rishi, but at the same time... I was working in London as well. So when the producer said 'we're going to kill you off', I was like: 'Okay, that part of my life with this guy is over and I'm going to move on'.''
To which guest host Christine Lampard said: "It's brutal though: 'we're going to kill you off' what a sentence to hear!" Later on the show, Christine, 44, decided to read out some messages from fans, which left Bhasker emotional as he wiped away tears.