A TikTok influencer murdered her mother’s young 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 before it caught on fire just after midnight on 11 February this year.
Just before he died, front-seat passenger Mr Hussain made a panicked 999 call to police claiming Mr Ijazuddin’s silver Skoda Fabia was being “blocked in” and rammed by balaclava-wearing assailants 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 abruptly at the sound of an impact.
Police footage from officers attending the scene, at about 1.35am, showed the Skoda in flames in the central reservation of the A46 dual carriageway, by the Six Hills junction near Leicester.
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The two men, from Banbury in Oxfordshire, had been friends since school, with Mr Ijazuddin agreeing to drive his friend to Leicester that night – described as a “fatal mistake that cost him his life” by prosecutors in court.
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”.
After denying the men’s murders, Ansreen Bukhari and her daughter Mahek Bukhari, from Stoke-on-Trent, Staffordshire, are facing trial along with six others.
The court heard 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, with videos and photos of the couple later 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 allegedly 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 alleged blackmail attempt, with Mr Thompson telling 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 is alleged to have messaged her mother saying: “I’ll soon get him jumped by guys and he won’t know what day it is.”
The court heard she would later text her mother: “Leave it to me.”
The women appeared in the dock alongside co-accused Rekan Karwan, 28, of Leicester, and Raees Jamal, 22, of Loughborough, who are both alleged to have recruited others, including Natasha Akhtar, 22, of Birmingham, who owned one of the cars involved in the alleged 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 counts of murder and two alternative charges of manslaughter. The trial continues.
