Sweet Bobby's Kirat Assi on her fight for justice after decade-long catfishing ordeal

Netflix's new documentary, Sweet Bobby tells the story of Kirat and the years she lost in an online relationship with a man she thought she knew, who transpired to be her female cousin.

"I have absolutely no idea [why she did this] and I've given up trying to work it out," Kirat tells RadioTimes.com. "There's nothing she could say to justify what she did... She had ample opportunities to stop."

"She could see the damage she was doing. She could see the distress she was causing. She chose not to."

"I think it's in the public interest to know how one person can do something like this. I think that's important to know for all of us."

Sweet Bobby was originally released as a podcast on Tortoise in 2021, with interviews with Kirat and all those embroiled in a shocking web of lies, as journalist Alexi Mostrous went on a search for "one of the world's most sophisticated catfishers".

Kirat recounts how she hadn't realised how popular the podcast was going to become.

"I didn't think anything was going to happen with it until the first couple of episodes just went crazy," she says. "It was kind of a whirlwind at that time."

After the success of the podcast, Kirat had a whole range of production companies reaching out to tell her story, but ultimately, it landed with Netflix.

"It's just sharing the story to a wider audience. Lots of people don't listen to podcasts and if this helps people to speak up [and] speak out, to fight for themselves a bit harder when it comes to not being believed, then that's what matters."

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Throughout the documentary, Kirat's story is told through her words. Viewers are shown the ordeal Kirat and many of her family members found themselves falling victim to.

Over the course of Kirat and Bobby's years long friendship, they still had never met and she was given constant excuses as to why they never could.

Kirat is told that Bobby has been shot in Kenya and is in witness protection, thus leaving him unable to speak to her. That is until another Facebook account is created and Bobby begins to message Kirat again.

Soon, the pair are engaged to be married, but there is one issue that remains: Bobby is apparently still in witness protection in New York City and Kirat still hasn't met him.

But something keeps her hope alive – her cousin Simran goes to New York and is able to retrieve a t-shirt of Bobby's to give to Kirat, allowing her to believe that Bobby is real.

And he is, he's just not who Kirat thinks he is.

Things finally come to a head when Bobby returns to London and Kirat visits him at a hotel he is staying at, but there is no Bobby Jandu staying there.

After a constant back and forth, Kirat becomes suspicious and hires a private investigator to find out Bobby's real address, and it takes her to a home in Brighton.

Before she knew it, Kirat was face-to-face with the real Bobby. But this Bobby had no idea who Kirat was, and certainly was not in witness protection, nor was he engaged to her.

It was only after confronting the man she thought she had been messaging for all those years that Kirat finally found out the truth.

It was in fact her cousin, Simran Bhogal, who had used Bobby's identity to lure Kirat into a false relationship.

After finding out who was behind such a complex case of catfishing, Kirat reported it to the police. But she was told that she wasn't the victim and, rather, the real Bobby was.

In 2020, Kirat won a "substantial settlement" in a civil case against Simran for "harassment, misuse of private information and data protection breaches".

Kirat believes there needs to be more training within the police to tackle cyber crimes.

"If you're telling me that the law exists to deal with these crimes, then learn how to use them," she says of the police.

"You need to know whether its malicious communications, whether it's stalking [or] whether crimes are being committed that people can be charged with online."

She says: "It should have been taken seriously the first time. None of this [the podcast, documentary] would have happened if the police had taken it seriously from the get go."

Kirat's case has since been taken to the Independent Body of Police Conduct (IOPC) and Kirat hopes that justice will be served.

Simran was offered the opportunity to be interviewed for the Netflix documentary and declined. Simran told Netflix in a statement that the matter "involves events that began when she was a schoolgirl".

"She considers it a private matter and strongly objects to what she describes as 'numerous unfounded' and damaging accusations."

In response to the podcast, the creators received a statement from Simran via her lawyers, which read: "This matter concerns a family dispute over events that began over a decade ago, when I was a schoolgirl. As far as I'm concerned, this is a private family matter that has been resolved.

"I strongly object to the numerous unfounded and seriously defamatory accusations that have been made about me, as well as details of private matters that have been shared with the media."

As for life beyond Sweet Bobby, Kirat has been adapting to "a new normal".

"I disappeared from my networks quite drastically and then totally disappeared," she explains. "I wasn't myself for the last three [or] four years, like I wasn't who I am as a person."

She adds: "You have to find your feet, you have to find your people again because you learn through this process who people really are and who is your pretend friend. You learn a lot."

Along with this, Kirat is also navigating life with her ordeal being attached to her in her future.

"I'm in my 40s now and I have to own this," she tells RadioTimes.com. "Anybody I'm going to work with, anybody I'm going to be with as a partner has got to know what happened to me.

"And I hope people have the guts enough to ask me questions about what they don't understand rather than making judgements."

Sweet Bobby is available to stream on Netflix now. Sign up for Netflix from £6.99 a month. Netflix is also available on Sky Glass and Virgin Media Stream.

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