TikTok influencer and mother ‘murdered’ two men in car crash over sex tape blackmail, court hears

A TikTok influencer murdered her mother’s 21-year-old lover who had blackmailed her with a sex tape, a court has been told.

Saqib Hussain and his friend Mohammed Hashim Ijazuddin, both 21, were killed when their Skoda crashed into a tree after 23-year-old Mahek Bukhari hatched a plot with others to “set a trap”, prosecutors said.

The vehicle was “virtually split in two” by the impact and then caught fire just after midnight on 11 February.

Just before he died, front-seat passenger Mr Hussain made a 999 call to police claiming Mr Ijazuddin’s silver Skoda Fabia was being “blocked in” and rammed by attackers wearing balaclavs who had been following them in two cars.

In a recording of the call played to Leicester Crown Court, he said: “They’re trying to ram us off the road. Please, I’m begging you, I’m going to die.”

He also said “Oh my God”, before there was a scream and the call cut off at the sound of an impact.

Police footage from the scene showed the Skoda in flames in the central reservation of the A46 dual carriageway, by the Six Hills junction near Leicester.

The two men, from Banbury, Oxfordshire, had been friends since school. Mr Ijazuddin had agreed to drive his friend to Leicester that night – described as a “fatal mistake that cost him his life” by prosecutors.

Collingwood Thompson KC, prosecuting, said Mr Hussain’s 999 call was a key indicator that the crash “was not simply a tragic road traffic accident but a deliberate murder”.

Ansreen Bukhari and her daughter Mahek Bukhari, from Stoke-on-Trent, Staffordshire, deny murder.

Mr Hussain’s family later told detectives he was having a three-year affair with 45-year-old Ansreen Bukhari, who was married with children.

Mr Hussain had recorded “sexually explicit” material, the prosecutor said, and videos and photos of the couple were found on Mr Hussain’s Instagram account.

When Mrs Bukhari tried to end the relationship in January against Mr Hussain’s wishes, he “became increasingly obsessive, professing his love for her”, Mr Thompson said.

After Mrs Bukhari would not return his calls, Mr Thompson said Mr Hussain’s anger “manifested itself in an attempt to blackmail Ansreen Bukhari in order to persuade her to contact him” and threatened to send the sexually explicit material to her husband and son unless she agreed to speak to him.

Mrs Bukhari confided in her daughter about the blackmail attempt, and Mr Thompson told jurors that it set out a possible motive to “silence” Mr Hussain.

Mahek Bukhari, known as Maya, had 126,000 followers on TikTok and 43,000 on Instagram before her arrest, regularly posting updates on her handbags, clothes and make-up.

On 4 January she messaged her mother saying: “I’ll soon get him jumped by guys and he won’t know what day it is.”

She later texted her mother: “Leave it to me.”

The women appeared in court alongside Rekan Karwan, 28, of Leicester, and Raees Jamal, 22, of Loughborough, who are both said to have recruited others, including Natasha Akhtar, 22, of Birmingham, who owned one of the cars involved in the pursuit.

Also in the dock are Sanaf Gulammustafa, 22, Ameer Jamal, 27, and Mohammed Patel, 20, all from Leicester.

The three women and five men deny two charges of murder and two alternative charges of manslaughter. The trial continues.