Exclusive: Sweet Bobby's Kirat Assi shares 'disappointment' over 'real' Bobby's reaction to her harrowing situation
Sweet Bobby is the latest Netflix documentary that we can't stop talking about. Based on the hit podcast, the true-crime film follows the stranger-than-fiction tale of how a radio presenter, Kirat Assi, was tricked into believing that she had an online relationship with the love of her life - only to discover that she had been catfished - and that the 'Bobby' she thought she knew was a different person entirely.
Chatting to HELLO!, Kirat opened up about whether she has had a chance to speak to Bobby Jandu, who was unaware that his identity had been used for the deception.
She explained: "Bobby and I haven't spoken. I'm a little bit disappointed. I think he’s only just realised in the last couple of months how closely connected we are, but that's not on record anywhere. I'm a little bit disappointed this many years down the line. I am disappointed by the lack of joined-up-ness on the approach."
She continued: "I've tried to make sure that everybody in the journey is looked after, doesn't feel vulnerable, everybody's safe, but then you sometimes feel like you're alone in that responsibility. I don't feel like anyone else feels that back for me.
"This is where nice and kind comes into play, I just feel sometimes like, ‘Am I being too kind?’ But it's about doing the right thing. So even if I am disappointed in them, I've still got to do the right thing."
She continued: "For me it's not even pushing for the meeting. It's about doing it on their side if they could. For me, I've talked about the community being the issue. For me as the time's gone on since the confession, they are the community.
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"They also represent the community especially the Kenyan side of the community and those values and attributes that can sometimes be damaging. So that's just another example."
It was eventually discovered that it was actually Kirat's cousin Simran Bhogal who was behind the elaborate catfish plan. She has not been charged or prosecuted by the police. Simran has paid compensation to Kirat and sent her a private apology in 2021.
Bobby spoke about the situation in the documentary, saying: "How can she pretend to be me for so long, and she's a girl doing it to her cousin? None of it made any sense."
He later added: "I got a call from a lawyer working with Kirat. He gives me a folder [this thick] with details of this huge, elaborate scheme to convince Kirat that there is a fake version of me out there who is extraordinarily extravagant. We're just a normal family with a very ordinary lifestyle. That moment was even more shocking than the morning that Simran confessed."
