Simran Bhogal Deceived Kirat Assi for Nearly a Decade by Way of a Wild Catfishing Operation

In 2009, Kirat Assi got a message on Facebook from her cousin's ex-boyfriend JJ who was desperately trying to win his former girlfriend back.

The two briefly messaged until Assi's cousin, Simran Bhogal, let her know that JJ had suddenly died from some sort of allergic reaction.

Bhogal gave Assi JJ's brother's information so she could pass along her condolences. That's when Assi met Bobby Jandu for the first time.

Assi was vaguely aware of Bandu, as they were both members of the west London Sikh community. The two began exchanging messages and before long, Assi fell in love. Then things started to get strange.

One day, out of the blue, Bhogal messaged Assi to let her know Bandu had been shot in Kenya and was also in the witness protection program. It just kept getting weirder until one day Assi's cousin confessed that she was Bobby.

So, where is Simran Bhogal now? Here's what we know.

The story of Bhogal's deceit was told in gruesome detail in the "Sweet Bobby" podcast, which dropped in 2021. In October 2024, Netflix released a documentary of the same name.

Bhogal declined to be interviewed for both projects, but she did release a statement in response to them.

She referred to what happened as a "family dispute" and blamed her actions on her age. When this all started, Bhogal was 17 years old. Still, that's not an excuse for what she did.

Bhogal also said the accusations lodged against her are "unfounded" and "seriously defamatory."

In 2020, Assi sued Bhogal in civil court, which was settled the following year. Bhogal was forced to pay "substantial damages" to Assi and had to cover her legal fees.

She also wrote a private apology letter that Assi is legally unable to share. Since the release of the podcast, police have reopened Assi's case.

She told Today that she hoped this would happen before the documentary, but that didn't happen.

Assi also told Today that she has no idea why her cousin did this to her.

"I don’t think I care about why anymore, to be honest," she said. "You obviously question it at the time. You just wonder why, (but) nothing could justify how far that person’s gone."

Even if Assi got an answer, she told the outlet she's not sure she could ever believe it. All she wants now is for Bhogal to take full responsibility for her actions.

After fake Bobby was shot, he apparently got extremely sick while recovering at a hospital in New York.

"There was always an excuse why he couldn’t come to London," Assi told The Guardian in January 2022.

He always had a reason why he couldn't turn on his camera while they video chatted while insisting Assi have hers on.

This was just a hint of what was to come as fake Bobby grew more and more controlling.

When they first began chatting, Assi hosted a radio show but was soon forced to quit after fake Bobby said she was flirting with a guest. He would keep track of what Assi was doing and would get angry when she left the house.

He would frequently pick fights to test Assi's loyalty, which felt like torture.

Assi finally got fed up when fake Bobby refused to meet with her when he was allegedly in London.

She figured out what his last known address was and showed up in order to confront him. What Assi found was a man named Bobby Jandu who looked like the person she was dating, but had no idea who she was.

The real Bobby was a dental surgeon who was married and had one son. Devastated by what happened, Assi told Bhogal she was thinking of going to the police.

That's when her cousin fessed up.