Sweet Bobby - My Catfish Nightmare on Netflix. SPOILERS

The Sikh community are very close knit and everyone knows everyone yet in nearly a decade, not one person close to Kirat had any contact with or gossip about Bobby or his wife?

Surely at weddings or any get togethers, people gossip and share news? Especially a gorgeous couple like Bobby and Sanj. I imagine they'd be pretty popular. In any community, people would talk and say how lovely it is that they've had a baby, etc.

I think Kirat knew deep down that it wasn't real but for whatever reason allowed it to keep going.

The big clue was when "Bobby" returned to the UK and she didn't meet him at the airport. After nearly a decade?

Why would anyone be in a relationship with someone they have never spoken to or had video calls with?

Why didn't Kirat or her mum tell her dad? If they were serious about getting married then they'd want to tell her dad so he could make arrangements to meet Bobby's family. You'd think they'd be wanting to marry as soon as possible considering Kirat's age and wanting children, she was already in her late 30s by this point.

The witness protection thing was crazy. He was shot in Kenya which surely everyone back home would be talking about it, even if it's in hushed tones. Then going into witness protection but he could still contact Kirat and his friends? That's not what witness protection is!!! Everyone knows that!

"Sim ran claimed fake Bobby had died initially when he was shot in Kenya. However he appeared in a New York hospital a few weeks later stating they told everyone he was dead was so he could be put in witness protection."

Anything like this (missing, shot, dead) would be picked up on all the community grapevines.

I think I agree with a PP that deep down she didn’t actually want marriage and kids, and this was a way to have the fantasy and please her family, without actually having to commit to anything real.

Women in their late 30s who are “desperate” for kids do not hang around! How many threads do we see on here of “I settled for boyfriend I barely knew because I wanted kids, now I’ve realised he’s not right for me and I can’t stand him”. I just don’t believe someone would hang around for 10 years if they really wanted that!!

The more bizarre thing is that no-one in her family thought to Google the guy, or heard any whispers from the community that he’s alive and well (and married) in Brighton.

The film Catfish came out in 2010, it definitely was a thing 10 years ago.

To not

Not tomorrow ( typo)

Tomorrow meet your fiancé during all those years! Potty as a hatful of frogs. Ridiculous scenario and I have no sympathy with the girl.

Absolutely agree with this. She knew something wasn't right but with the culture and her family, she just ignored the warning signs.

Her cousin is bloody sick. Just abhorrent, disgusting behaviour. I don't how she can live with herself having done what she did.

Sim ran claimed fake Bobby had died initially when he was shot in Kenya. However he appeared in a New York hospital a few weeks later stating they told everyone he was dead was so he could be put in witness protection.

I’m part-way through the podcast and oh it’s a strange case indeed! I have finished the episode where the deception has been revealed.

I was disappointed that they didn’t go more into Sikh culture (of which I have some experience) as that would give a lot more context as to why Kirat was so attracted to Bobby.

I did rather raise my eyebrows that she was talking to him for so long when he was supposedly married early on in their friendship, as that would be a big no-no in the Sikh community - most communities really!

In fact, I wonder if the whole thing began as some kind of bizarre morality ‘test’ by Simran. She didn’t like her cousin, disapproved of her single life and wanted to see if she would take the bait of a married man.

Surely she's very employable in some kind of secret service role?

She was a member of the victim's extended family though.

What if the whole thing was a hoax? It’s odd there’s so little evidence of the perpetrator in this case and such little mention of them afterwards.

Simran faked Bobby's death?

If you listen to the podcast the connection between Simran and Bobby's brother, JJ , was much more tenuous and in effect she ended up stalking him although from memory I think they dated briefly. She then started stalking him sending attention seeking messages saying she was dying etc and asking him to come to see her. However he didn't really take her seriously and it fizzled out. She then claimed JJ died which is untrue. He's alive and well but then turned her attentions to Kirat using the claim that JJ had died and give a reason for fake Bobby contacting Kirat. Although that still seems a bit odd as there still didn't seem to be a real reason for Bobby to randomly contact the cousin of his dead brother's girlfriend but Kirat didn't seem to think it odd.

What I don’t get is surely the real Bobby’s Facebook profile would have popped up at some point? As a suggested friend for Kirat. Or he would have seen a fake one using his photo.

Just so many holes - it’s mad! Like the mum not telling the dad about the engagement, or no relative of theirs bumping into the real Bobby or his family at any point.

The complexity of this web of lies is immense- at some points, Simran was in touch with numerous of Kirat's family members including her mum, 'herself' and other relations.

She also faked Bobby's death, got Kirat to contribute to the eulogy and set up fake funeral notices. The FB profiles had 30-40 friends on which doesn't sound like a lot these days but back then I can see it must have seemed authentic. That's some commitment to the task in hand.

She's obviously a sociopath, perhaps fixated on Kirat. It's also true she did date Bobby's brother, so there was a real-life connection there, no?

I'm more than a little surprised that Kirat didn't discover that Bobby wasn't actually a cardiologist.
Wouldn't she have googled him?

Exactly that. I became so fond of Kirat watching her on the programme. She was so dynamic and charismatic but that damn cousin took so much of that away. I hope she is living a good and happy life low. Her cousin will never be happy that’s for sure.

Also simran's a psychopath! How she had the time is beyond me. Also don't get how Kirat was in an on and off relationship for 18yrs before speaking to Bobby. She should've just had an arranged marriage and saved all this heart ache.

She thought Bobby was drunk and didn't want to embarrass him at the night club.

The podcast is very detailed. Was the real life Bobby's facebook private or public? Bobby said he only knew of a simran who briefly dated his brother but it doesn't seem like they'd be Facebook friends, especially the wife Sanj. They must've had public accounts. I don't think simran would have gotten away with it so much without their photos if their profiles were private.

There are pics on twitter https://x.com/JoshMcVa/status/1848167712612372482

And this!

https://yaircohen.co.uk/the-case-of-kirat-assi-v-simran-kaur-bhogal-sweet-bobby/

oh dear spiralling into google

She's wiped practically all traces of herself from the internet.

She's clearly very adept technologically.

https://www.radiotimes.com/tv/documentaries/sweet-bobby-true-story-simran-bhogal-explained/

Interesting article