The Netflix documentary “Sweet Bobby'' follows a woman who falls for a fake online relationship. Kirat Assi said she did not know her boyfriend's true identity for eight years after they started dating. Assi filed a lawsuit against the catfish fishermen, but was unsuccessful. Police should act.
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Warning: Contains spoilers for Netflix's “Sweet Bobby: My Catfish Nightmare” and the previous “Sweet Bobby” podcast.
Kirat Assi, the star of “Sweet Bobby: My Catfish Nightmare,'' still hopes police will track down the catfish after he reported it six years ago.
Cops in London told Business Insider that they are investigating her case again after initially dropping it. (Sky News was first to report the development.)
The Netflix show deals with two of the hottest topics in the streaming world these days: real crime and fraud, and special promotions can shed new light on the cases.
Here are some episodes that were not introduced on the program.
8 years of deception
In 2010, Assi, a radio presenter from London, began a Facebook friendship with a man he believed to be Bobby Jandu, a wealthy heart doctor.
The relationship then turned romantic and the two got engaged without ever meeting before she thought she met his family on Facebook.
Ash was deceived. In 2018, she discovered that her cousin Simran Bhogal had created an elaborate fiction using a web of accounts in a particularly sophisticated example of catfishing.
By then, Assi had found and confronted the real Jandu, but Jandu had no idea who he was.
Jandu and Assi reported Bhogal to the British police. However, catfishing is not a crime under British law, and Bhogal was not charged or prosecuted.
Mr. Assi sued Mr. Bhogal in a 2020 civil suit in a British court. A year later, the two reconciled, and Assi received financial compensation and a written apology that could be shown to a limited number of people.
Here's what the documentary missed in Assi's journey for justice:
Bhogal's lawyer made his own case.
A younger image of Kirat Assi from the Netflix documentary Sweet Bobby. Provided by Netflix
In the fifth episode of the 2021 podcast series “Sweet Bobby,” which published Assi's story ahead of its release on Netflix, host Alexi Mostros said Assi had hired two lawyers.
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Amrit Maan and Yair Cohen supported her in pursuing legal action against Bhogal in the months following her first interaction with the Metropolitan Police.
Mr Maan tried to assist Mr Assi with his police investigation, while Mr Cohen represented Mr Assi in the British civil courts.
Mostros said Assi then sent Bogal a letter threatening legal action, accusing him of harassment, misusing Assi's personal information and violating data protection laws.
Bhogal's lawyer responded by accusing Assi of grooming Bhogal because their online relationship began when Bhogal was a child and Assi was 32, Mostrus newspaper reported. . The lawyers also claimed that Assi always knew that Bhogal was pretending to be Bobby and threatened to go public with the accusations if the case was not dropped.
“It's outrageous. I thought it was so despicable and so disgusting that I already confessed,” Assi said on the podcast.
Ash didn't back down.
In episode 6 of his podcast, Mostrus said Bogal offered him a payment and a semi-personal apology to settle the case in spring 2021. Mr. Mostrus said Mr. Assi had wanted a public apology, but after speaking with his lawyer, he accepted the settlement.
Assi appealed to the police for a criminal investigation.
A photo of the real Bobby Jandu from “Sweet Bobby: My Catfish Nightmare.” Provided by Netflix
In the Netflix documentary, Assi said London police did not take her complaints seriously and believed that Jandu and his wife were the real victims of the catfishing incident.
The Metropolitan Police Department dropped the case in 2019, citing lack of evidence.
But on Friday, a spokesperson told Business Insider that the company is investigating again and is “actively working” with Assi.
This followed Assi's complaint to Britain's Independent Police Conduct Authority about the handling of the case.
The IOPC pointed out to the BI that its initial response was flawed and called on the Metropolitan Police to review its investigation process.
It was not clear exactly when or why the Met reopened the case.
