Rupesh Patanjali

Rupesh Patanjali was a doctor, originally from the Midlands, who worked at the A&E department at St Helen's Hospital in Cardiff.

Biography
Rupesh Patanjali first encountered Jack Harkness and Ianto Jones while they removed an alien hitchhiker from within a deceased patient. His interest in Torchwood piqued and Rupesh tracked them down to the Bay. Gwen talked with him at length about Torchwood. He seemed well on his way to becoming Torchwood's new doctor, replacing the late Owen Harper, Gwen noting that she was promoting herself to recruitment officer.

However, all was not as it seemed. After luring Harkness back to the hospital with a report of another weird death, he unexpectedly shot Jack in the back, "killing" him. Patanjali was working for the UK government, and was originally to have been planted within Torchwood 3 as an MI5 infiltrator, to get information on Torchwood from the inside. Instead, he was ordered to incapacitate Harkness by another agent, Johnson. He also killed a patient in order to facilitate the ruse of getting Harkness back to the hospital, which resulted in Johnson rebuking Patanjali when the doctor expressed discomfort over the apparent death of Harkness.

Jack was subsequently "re-killed" several times as Johnson's team implanted a bomb. Patanjali asked Johnson what was to become of him, now that his cover had been blown. Her silence indicated that, in order for the mission to succeed, he must also die. Fearing for his life, Patanjali tried to run away, but was shot in the back by the cold-blooded Johnson. (TW: Children of Earth: Day One)

His body was then taken to an MI5 compound and his family requested its release. When Gwen Cooper and Rhys Williams went to rescue Harkness from the same compound, they found his body. (TW: Children of Earth: Day Two)

Behind the scenes

 * Although portrayed as a caucasian, the name 'Rupesh Pantanjali' sounds more like a name from an Asian background. Why this occurs is unkown, although it is possible that Rupesh was an orphan as a baby, then to be adopted by an Asian family.