It was Suni Sharma (Brahmdeo Shannon Ramana)’s birthday on Tuesday (February 20)’s Emmerdale. There was much celebration, disco-ball cocktails and fabulous gifts – sunglasses from Nicky (Lewis Cope), and a pair of gold trousers from Ruby (Beth Cordingly) that will guarantee the wearer is the centre of attention at any party.
The only thing spoiling the fun was the niggling annoyance of the tense atmosphere between Jai (Chris Bisson) and Amit (Anil Goutam). Suni wanted both his brother and his dad to be at his party, so he told Jai that Amit would absolutely, definitely not be attending.
The party was at Caleb (William Ash)’s house and everyone was having a lovely time – especially Ruby who continued to bond with the locals. When Laurel (Charlotte Bellamy) turned down the offer of a disco-ball cocktail and explained she was a recovering alcoholic, Ruby’s cringe-inducing response was ‘Own it, girl!’
Then Amit arrived and Jai was fuming that he’d been tricked into coming. Eventually Amit said he’d leave, but he had an envelope which he wanted Suni and Jai to open together after he’d gone.
This turned out to contain his will, in which he gave his shares in the HOP to his sons to share 50/50 between them after his death. Suni’s initial reaction was to worry that this meant Amit was dying. Jai’s initial reaction was to say he didn’t want it.
The reason that Jai hates Amit so much is that he blames him for the death of Rishi (Bhasker Patel), Amit’s brother and the man who brought Jai up and who he considers to be his dad.
Rishi fell down the stairs at home on Jai and Laurel’s wedding day in what seemed to be a tragic accident. We learned later that Amit had been with Rishi when he fell, but on realising his brother was dead he fled the scene in case anyone thought he’d pushed Rishi.
Suni has always believed his dad and the police were satisfied that Rishi’s death was an accident, but Jai has always had doubts.
And it seems he was right to, because Amit naming him in his will turns out to have been a bid to get him on-side.
Amit summoned him to the Woolpack, where he was sitting with his solicitor, Bill (Philip Buck). He begged him to give their relationship a reset and Jai agreed to make a fresh start – as long as he wasn’t keeping any secrets. He also agreed to come back to work.
Then, in a twist, we saw a conversation between Amit and Bill as they sat in Bill’s car. They were talking about Amit’s previous failed businesses and how a timely legacy from Uncle Ravi came to his rescue. And it had been very lucky that Amit hadn’t had to share what he referred to as ‘my inheritance’ with his brother, Rishi.
‘Massively convenient, him dying like that,’ Bill mused, like he was very familiar with the story and wasn’t bothered at all by the implication that it had been more than just convenient.
‘Poor Rishi, such a tragedy,’ agreed Amit, with no real feeling at all for his late brother.
‘Still, it got me out of a bind. Every cloud.’
He said this with a tiny smile. Did we just witness Amit confessing to killing Rishi?
