A court has heard that a TikTok star told a crash victim "watch what I do to you" during an alleged high-speed chase up the A46. Mahek Bukhari, 23, is one of eight people on trial at Leicester Crown Court accused of the murder of Mohammed Hashim Ijazuddin and Saqib Hussain.
The 21 year olds, both from Oxfordshire, died following a crash on the A46 near Leicester, close to the Nottinghamshire border, on February 11. On day two of the murder trial concerning their deaths at Leicester Crown Court on Friday (October 28), jurors heard that the alleged threat from TikTok personality Mahek Bukhari came just before the collision in which the car, carrying Mr Ijazuddin and Mr Hussain, smashed through the central reservation, hit a tree and burst into flames, LeicestershireLive reports.
The court also heard that Mohammed Patel, the seventh person to be arrested, had provided a lengthy statement to Leicestershire Police after his arrest in which he described how Mahek called Saqib Hussain - who died in the car crash - and made the comment. There followed, he said, a conversation between two other defendants in which one of the drivers said "I'm going to try to stop this guy."
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Patel initially denied being on the A46 but later gave a comprehensive statement through his solicitor. He told the police he hadn't wanted to be involved and had tried to call 999 after the fatal collision but was ordered not to, the trial was told.
In his police interview Patel, who described himself as a 'peacemaker', said co-accused Raees Jamal had called him earlier that night, saying there was a "situation" and he needed to go around to his house. When he arrived, Raees Jamal, wearing a balaclava, took him to the back of Mahek's Audi TT and gave him a metal wheel brace to put down his trousers, he said.
Prosecutor Collingwood Thompson told the jury: "That account is obviously significant - it's clear evidence the use of violence was being contemplated."
The jury has previously heard how victim Saqib had been in a three-year sexual relationship with married Ansreen Bukhari, mother of Mahek, and had been threatening to post explicit pictures and videos of her on the internet and tell her husband about the affair. He later agreed not to share the material if he was paid £2,000 and on February 11 he allegedly went to meet Mahek and her mother at Tesco in Hamilton, Leicester, where Saqib's Skoda Fabia was seen on CCTV video, approaching the Bukhari's Audi TT, which was parked near a Seat Leon, and then fleeing.
Patel said that all eight defendants had gone to the Tesco store and he and co-accused Rekan Karwan, both with balaclavas on, hid near a stairwell in the car park, waiting for the Skoda Fabia containing the two victims. Mr Thompson said: "He believed the occupants of the Skoda must have seen him and Rekan Karwan because it drove off, as the CCTV shows."
Patel told the police "they did start chasing them" and then recalled a phone conversation between Mahek Bukhari and Saqib in the Skoda in which Mahek said: "Watch what I do to you." Mr Thompson said: "Mr Patel realises something serious was going on. He said, 'I didn't know how to get out of this situation'."
Next, Patel described the route the vehicles all took and how a conversation took place between Rekan Karwan and Raees Jamal, who were in different cars. According to Patel, Raeees Jamal said: "I'm going to try to stop this guy. I might have to ram him." Patel said Karwan replied: "Ram him."
Telemetry data from one of the vehicles shows the pursuit reached speeds of 100mph. He described Karwan's driving as "very erratic" ahead of the crash.
After the crash, which happened after contact between the Seat he was in and the Skoda, he described the cars stopping further up the A46 before going back to Leicester, passing the scene of the crash where the Skoda was on fire. Mr Thompson said: "According to Mr Patel, his reaction was to call 999.
"But he said 'they stopped me, everyone was told to turn their phones off'." Patel told the police that back in Leicester he rubbed his fingerprints off the weapon and replaced it in the Audi TT before walking home.
Before Patel's arrest, police had interviewed the TikTok influencer and in her interview Mahek gave the police an account that was "a pack of lies", according to Mr Thompson. She admitted trying to meet Saqib at the Tesco store but did not mention her mother's affair with the 21-year-old victim.
In her version of events to police, Mahek said she knew Saqib and that he had been harassing her. She told police in her interview that she had made a social media post while in Leicester and Saqib had then tracked her down in the city and "became very threatening". She said Saqib told her: "Your dad's at home, your brother's at home, I'm going to kill them."
She admitted that after the failed Tesco meeting she drove up the A46 with her mother and saw a blue car "agitating" with a silver car but did not see the collision. However, she said that after turning off the A46 they did rejoin later and passed the scene of the crash where the car was on flames.
She said she "burst into tears" at seeing the wreck but did not know who was in the car, or who had been in the blue car she had described. She said she did not call 999 because the emergency services were already at the scene.
The two men in the car, Saqib and his friend Hashim, died from the impact of the crash, Mr Thompson said. They were "mercifully" dead by the time the car burst into flames, he added.
During Friday's hearing the jury heard more about the arrests of the eight defendants, starting with the owner of the Seat Leon, Natasha Akhtar, who was stopped by police before she even made it home to Birmingham. The murder investigation was rapid, thanks to a 999 call Saqib made to Leicestershire Police in the final minutes of his life.
He told the operator: "They hit into the back of the car very fast. Please, I'm begging you, I'm going to die." He then screamed before the phone call cut off with a crunching sound.
Police quickly connected the two other cars with the crash - Mahek's Audi TT and Akhtar's Seat Leon. The Leon was seen by automatic numberplate recognition cameras on the M6 and she was arrested when she pulled into a petrol station near junction 5 of the motorway, near Castle Bromwich. By 8.30am Staffordshire Police were outside the home of Mahek and her mother Ansreen in Stoke and they were arrested about an hour later and taken to Leicester to be interviewed.
Mahek handed over her phone and was asked for the code to unlock it but she provided the wrong number, Mr Thompson said. She also claimed she had been in Nottingham in the Audi earlier that night.
Mr Thompson said she obviously feared the police would find the messages on her phone co-ordinating the incidents of the previous few hours. He said: "She didn't want the police, obviously, to discover that link to what had happened.
"If you were completely innocent, why would you lie about your movements and lie about your PIN number? The inference was she was heavily involved in the collision."
Mr Thompson said Mahek did not want her mother's affair to become public because she was worried about losing her reputation with her 126,000 TikTok followers and 46,000 Instagram fans. Before the alleged murder, a message was sent from Mahek to her mum which said: "I'll soon get him jumped by guys and he won't know what day it is."
The trial, which is expected to last about eight weeks, continues. The defendants all deny murder and an alternative count of manslaughter. Those on trial are: Natasha Akhtar, (22), of Alum Rock Road, Birmingham, Mahek Bukhari, (23), and Ansreen Bukhari, (45), both of George Eardley Close, Stoke, Raees Jamal, (22), of Lingdale Close, Loughborough, Rekan Karwan, (28), of Tomlin Road, Leicester, Mohammed Patel, (20), of Braybrooke Road, Leicester, Sanaf Gulammustafa, (22), of Littlemore Close, Crown Hills, Leicester, and Ammeer Jamal, (27), of Catherine Street, Belgrave, Leicester
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