A person who catfished their cousin for almost a decade once issued a four-word rationale on why she did the deed that’s left fans ‘yelling’ at their television screens.
From The Tinder Swindler to Untold: The Girlfriend Who Didn’t Exist, Netflix plays host to some of the weirdest yet highly-rated catfishing documentaries.
But there’s nothing on the platform like its latest offering - a 104-minute deep-dive into 44-year-old Londoner Kirat Assi’s supposed relationship with a cardiologist called Doctor Bobby Jandu.
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The harrowing story, which will later go down as the UK’s longest-known catfishing scam, started when radio presenter Kirat and ‘Bobby’ connected on Facebook in 2009.
From an initial friendship to a full-blown romantic affair, the pair chatted online for nine years.
It’s understood events manager Kirat and her friend-turned-fianceé would Skype call at night, share voice notes and text constantly.
During their correspondence, Kirat and Bobby also went through various fabricated ordeals, such as Bobby fathering a secret child and suffering a stroke, a brain tumour and a heart attack.
But towards the relationship, the Bobby she thought she knew became controlling and discouraged her from seeing friends and family.
Eventually, believing something was ‘off’ about her man, Kirat hired a private investigator.
She later discovered that the real-life Bobby wasn’t who she believed him to be.
In a dramatic twist, the true crime documentary, titled Sweet Bobby: My Catfish Nightmare, revealed that Bobby was a real person but that he wasn’t who she had been talking to for the last nine years.
Instead, Kirat learned her own cousin Simran Bhogal had been pretending to be Bobby for nine years - shocking, we know.
After watching the bingeable project, fans have come out in their droves to debate the big reveal.
One user of X, formerly known as Twitter, wrote: “Don’t watch Sweet Bobby on Netflix if you don’t wanna yell at your TV lol.”
Another echoed: “Dawg this Sweet Bobby documentary on Netflix is wild …how you let someone you don’t see control your life.”
“Ok I thought this Sweet Bobby documentary on Netflix was going to be your typical catfish story but it definitely had a twist to it,” said someone else.
Despite laying out Kirat’s story, Sweet Bobby fails to reveal exactly why her cousin went to the length she did to catfish her.
As per Sky News, Simran actually declined to be interviewed for the movie.
Her representatives stated: “This 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'.”
However, the podcast that Sweet Bobby is based on shines a little more light on Simran’s motivations.
The Tortoise Media investigative series of the same name sees Kirat and host Alexi Mostrous chronicling the sophisticated catfishing attempt.
During one episode, the victim detailed a letter written to her by Simran as part of a civil case.
"It was an emotional letter and it was all like she would change everything if she could and it was all very gushing and 'I’m sorry for all the hurt and pain I’ve caused', and all what you’d expect someone to say,” she recounted.
"It was the same as what she said when she confessed that she was in a dark place.
“She honestly believed we were both in a dark place and living in this alternative reality or this fantasy world that she created was bringing us both some kind of happiness or joy."
Following the release of the Netflix documentary, Kirat has gone on record claiming she has now ‘let go’ of any resentment towards her relative.
"At the moment of her confession, I was screaming, 'Why?' But I've long ago let go of that… There's just no reason to have done what she did,” she said, as per Sky News.
“Now, I just need to know how she did it.”
You can stream Sweet Bobby: My Catfish Nightmare on Netflix now.
Topics: Netflix, Documentaries, TV, True Crime
Ella Scott