Parvinder "Vinny" Panesar is the son of Suki and Nish Panesar and younger brother of Kheerat, Jags, Ash and half-brother of Ravi Gulati. He made his first appearance on 29 October 2019. He is portrayed by Shiv Jalota.
Storylines
2019-2021: Arrival, Jags death and Dotty romance
Vinny arrives on the Square with his brothers in search of their sister Ash Panesar, in attempt to reunite with her after she had previously left them due to their mother, Suki, being unsupportive of her decision to have an abortion and being bisexual. Vinny eventually tracks her down, and reveals to her that their mother is dying of cancer. Ash refuses to visit because of how she was treated by her and Vinny expresses upset at Ash cutting him out of her life when she left home.
Eventually, the Panesar family move into 5 Albert Square and Ash agrees to go for a drink with Suki and the Panesar brothers but the family are shocked when Jean Slater and Shirley Carter arrive at The Queen Victoria pub reveal Suki has been lying about having cancer, and despite their initial disgust with what she has done, Suki persuades Kheerat, Jags and Vinny to forgive her, while Ash refuses to talk to her.
During the COVID-19 lockdown, Suki purchases the Minute Mart. After, Vinny is hired by Ruby Allen to do a robbery on her nightclub as part of an insurance claim but a masked Vinny is caught by Ruby's husband Martin Fowler, who chases Vinny into the Minute Mart where Vinny knocks Martin out with a fire extinguisher causing Martin's head to bleed. Vinny believes he's killed Martin but Suki arrives on the scene and tells Vinny Martin is still alive. Suki sends Vinny away and covers up the crime and unbeknownst to the rest of the Panesars she frames Jags for the assault on Martin after Suki didn't approve of Jags relationship with Habiba Ahmed. Jags is then sent to prison.
In 2021, Jags died in jail and at first Suki blamed Vinny and snapped at him, but after a while she felt like his death was her fault, and she didn’t eat for weeks. Honey Mitchell, her employee took notice and she formed a friendship with Suki and made her food. Suki got annoyed at Kheerat as he skipped Jags' funeral to beat up Simon Atmore as he felt like Simon, who was in jail for the murder of Paul Coker, shouldn’t get to walk free after Jags died.
In June Vinny sleeps with his friend Dotty Cotton while he is grieving for his dead brother, Dotty regrets it the next morning.
On 11 October 2021, Vinny opens a Phone Shop inside the Laundrette, where he repairs phones, sells phones and sells accessories such as cases and earphones.
2022 to present: Arrival of Nish
Vinny starts a proper relationship with Dotty because despite her having no feelings for him, she is worried about being made homeless. She eventually cheats on him with Finlay Baker, causing him to throw Dotty out of the house after feeling heartbroken. In order to get revenge, Ash assaults Dotty.
When Nish is set to be released from prison, he orders secret son Ravi Gulati to get one of his sons to visit him in prison so he can get his family back. Ravi convinces Vinny to visit him and Nish convinces Vinny to let him live with him, causing him to reunite with his children. Kheerat however refuses to forgive Nish after Suki told him that the reason Nish killed a man is because he believed the man and Suki were having an affair. When Kheerat tells Vinny and Ash about this, they decide to give Nish another chance.
Vinny is left jealous when Nish asks for help with a job from Ravi, and not him. When he asks to help with the job, Nish calls Vinny immature and naive, telling him that he always causes a mess and leaves him to clean it up. He then tells Vinny that he needs to prove himself in order to be trusted, which causes Vinny to start drinking as the thinks he isn't enough. He confides in Suki, and tells her about the illegal job which causes her to call the police on Nish as she is trying to find a way out of the relationship to get with Eve Unwin. Nish accuses Vinny of calling the police on him, which causes him to attack Vinny but Suki confesses that it was her.
When Suki attempts to pack a bag and leave Nish with Eve she trips and falls down the stairs, Suki is found by Nish, Vinny and Ravi and they call an ambulance. Suki asks Ravi to hide the suitcase and Ravi does, Ravi later reveals to Vinny that he hid the suitcase for Suki and that Suki was planning to leave Nish. Vinny gets suspicious that Suki was conspiring with Eve against Nish after he gets reported to the police and arrested for actual bodily harm (ABH). He forces Suki to give him her phone, and sees that every message between Suki and Eve had been deleted. He messages Eve with Suki's phone, and works out that Suki is having an affair with Eve. He berates her for this, and plans to tell Nish one he is released from prison - telling Suki that she has destroyed their family. Vinny then decides to give Suki an ultimatum, telling her that he wont tell Nish about her and Eve if she stops the relationship and cuts contact with Eve.
After their breakup, Vinny attempts to control Suki and stop Eve from seeing Suki by following her into The Queen Victoria female bathroom. He threatens Eve, telling her that he'll make her life a living hell if she doesn't stay away from Suki, and Eve tells him to do his worst. Finlay Baker gives Eve his car and tells her that she should go to Brighton with Felix Baker, and when Vinny overhears this, he breaks into Taylor's Autos and cuts the breaks on the car in an attempt to kill her. However Suki later bursts the tyre to save Eve's life. It is later revealed that Vinny dropped his chain and that Finlay has found it and is planning to take it to the police as evidence, when Ravi finds out about this he threatens Finlay with violence if he goes to the police. The next day when Vinny passes through Finlay's stall the two begin arguing and Finlay threatens Vinny saying he still might call the police. Ravi witnesses this and has three of his henchmen destroy Finlay's stall in retaliation. After Finlay's stall is destroyed he goes to the Panesar's house to find Vinny, Suki is the only one home and Finaly asks her why Vinny would want to kill him. Finlay tells Suki that it would have been Eve that Vinny had killed, Finlay then realises it was Eve that Vinny was trying to kill. The next day Finlay attempts to warn Eve but can't find her Suki then asks Finlay to come into the ally way at the side of the Vic so Vinny can apologise but once Finlay gets there Ravi is waiting for him. Suki and Ravi then threaten Finlay, telling him that if he doesn't leave Aalford tomorrow then Ravi will kill Felix. The next day Finlay sees Ravi and warns Ravi not to go near Felix, Ravi tells Finlay he doesn't want too but he will kill Felix if Finlay doesn't leave. Finlay finally agrees to leave but tells Suki he wants money to leave or he will tell Eve, Suki agrees and pays Finlay. Finlay then tells his family he is moving to Dublin, Ireland and then leaves Walford.
Vinny later meets Kathy Cotton and Tom Cotton and Kathy agrees to buy the house, however Tom secretly can't afford the deposit. Tom later meets Vinny and asks if he can drop the price of the deposit, Vinny refuses however he offers to give Tom a loan from Nish and Tom accepts the loan. Vinny warns Tom not to mess Nish around when it's time for the loan to be re-payed.
Ravi's estranged daughter Avani Nandra-Hart and his ex-girlfriend Priya Nandra-Hart move into the Panesar's house when they are kicked out of their flat in Brixton. When the Panesar's find out that Avani hasn't been to school since Lockdown (Covid-19 Pandemic) him and Ravi help Avani get back to school. Priya later kisses Nish but he pulls away but both of them are caught by Suki and Vinny. Nish then protests his innocence and kicks Priya and Avani out of the house, Suki later sees Eve who tells her that she's happy for Suki to have more of her family around and that she's not alone with Nish. Suki decides to let Priya and Avani stay, Priya later tells Suki that she can tell that Suki doesn't love Nish and that she would never have made a move if she thought for one second that they were happy. Vinny later presses Suki for answers and she emotionally admits that she doesn't love Nish and that she wants Nish and Priya to get together to give her an excuse to leave him, Vinny then realises Suki still loves Eve and tells Suki that if she wants to leave Nish them he won't stand in her way. Vinny then helps Suki leave Walford and Suki goes to the tube station. Vinny sees Eve in the Vic and apologises for splitting them up and tells Eve that Suki is at the tube station and Eve goes to meet her. Suki returns for one more night so Eve can see Stacey and the other Slaters before she goes, Vinny tells Nish that the money in the till us £200 short, inadvertently informing Nish of Suki and Eve's affair as Nish checks the CCTV at the minute mart and sees footage of Suki and Eve kissing. As a result Nish orders Ravi to kill Eve however Ravi lets Eve live but orders Eve to leave Walford, Ravi then tells Nish that he killed Eve.
On 20 December 2023 Eve secretly returns to Walford and frames Ravi and Nish for her murder by planting her blood in Ravi's car, Ravi and Nish are both later arrested. The police interview Ravi and he asks for his one phone call, Ravi calls Vinny and he tell Vinny everything about the murder attempt on Eve. Ravi asks Vinny to find Suki and Eve alive so that he can get released. When Jack Branning tells the police that he has seen Eve, Ravi and Nish are released.
On Christmas Day, an officer gives Nish his clothes alongside some cufflinks and Nish soon returns home. When he gets home, he greets Suki and makes her sit at the table and acts as nothing had happened, despite their conflict a few days ago. Ravi also returns home and Nish guides him into the kitchen where he punches him for not killing Eve and going against his father. Later on, Jack, discreetly checking on Suki, goes to No. 41 for a tin opener, Nish gives him one and Jack leaves - Jack was instructed by Stacey to do this. When Jack leaves, Nish senses something seems off and grabs the keys out of Suki’s coat and locks the front door so she can’t escape. Back at the table, Suki says she’s going to the bathroom but as Nish predicted, she makes a run for the door, Nish catches her in the act and forces her to come back to the dinner table, despite her saying she doesn’t want to. Avani then adds on that “You can’t force her!” however Nish angrily screams at her and tells her to shut up, Suki then runs into the kitchen and tries to get to the back door but she is quickly cornered by Nish until Ravi saves her. grabs Nish and surprisingly pins him against the worktop - giving Suki the opportunity to escape. Suki runs and looks for Eve but a cautious Stacey notices Suki panicking and Suki shouts that Nish is after her so Stacey and Suki seek safety in the Vic. Nish is later attacked and nearly killed after he is struck with a bottle by Denise after he attempts to abduct Suki and Keanu is killed by Linda Carter after he tried to kill Sharon. Denise, Sharon, Linda, Stacey, Kathy and Suki then hide Keanu's body in the recently burned down café and call an ambulance for Nish.
The six women then blame Keanu for Nish's attack when questioned by the police, Nish is then rushed to hospital with Ravi, Suki and Vinny going to see him. Nish is placed in an induced coma, Ravi believes Suki and the rest of the women's story about Keanu attacking Nish and tells Vinny that if Nish says any different then he won't believe Nish's lies anymore. When Nish wakes up from his coma Suki convinces the Panesar's (who are still angry about Nish's actions at Christmas) to go to the hospital and see him, Nish agrees to give Suki a divorce and seemingly accepts that their marriage is over. Vinny is proud of Nish and believes they can all move on however Nish is visibly angry behind Vinny’s back hinting that Nish is biding his time.
Kill count
Attempted murder victims
- Martin Fowler (10 September 2020) - Hit Martin over the head with a fire extinguisher to escape after Martin caught him robbing Ruby's Club.
- Eve Unwin (19 June 2023) - Cut the breaks on a car Eve would be in in a trip to Brighton After discovering his mother and Eve were having an affair.
- Felix Baker (19 June 2023) - Cut the breaks on a car Felix would be driving on a trip to Brighton in an attempt to kill his passenger, Eve.
Employment history
| Occupation | Years Active |
|---|---|
| DJ | Unknown start date to present |
| Criminal | Unknown start date to present |
| Debt collector | Unknown start date to present |
| DJ at Ruby's | 2021-2022 |
| Manager at KJP Pest Control | 2020 to present |
| Owner and manager of the Phone Shop | 2021 to present |
Background information
- Like his father and brothers, he has the middle name Singh. So his full name is Parvinder Singh Panesar.