STARING straight at the camera, Mahek Bukhari delivers the chilling line: “A woman could easily kill a man. With the right motivation.”
The TikTok video showing her lip-syncing to a memorable scene from hit teen drama The Vampire Diaries has racked up around 20,000 likes.
But this was no idle fantasy to gain social media clout with her 160,000 followers.
A few months later, the 24-year-old TikTok star was sentenced to life in prison, along with her mother Ansreen, 46, after they were both found guilty of two counts of murder.
Mother and daughter, from Stoke-on-Trent, became embroiled in a web of lies and deception after mother Ansreen, who appeared in her daughter’s TikTok videos, embarked on an ill-fated affair.
And when Saqib Hussain threatened to expose the relationship to Ansreen’s husband, mother and daughter hatched a murderous plot to silence her young lover.
The 21-year-old was found dead in a burning car, along with his friend Mohammed Hashim Ijazuddin, also 21, after their car veered off the road during a 160km/h chase in Leicestershire.
Their bodies were so burned that their families can barely identify them.
Saqib’s father, Sajad, is still haunted by what happened. In her first interview since the February 2022 murders, she told The Sun: “We never thought about burying our own son. It’s still very raw.
And he insists that social media is partly to blame — after Mahek’s “fame” on the site dragged her into a fantasy life.
Sajad, a 46-year-old father from Banbury, Oxon, said: “Fame got to him. She thought she was untouchable, above the law.
And he believes Saqib, who was about 18 when the case began, actually “tried” through Ansreen, a mother of two.
Sajad says, “It would have been his first serious relationship. I think he loves her completely.
“I was very young. It probably wouldn’t have been illegal, but I think it was still grooming. She is older than her own mother. She knew better. “
And he says of the social media platform that made Mahek a star: “TikTok played a big part in this. If there was no social media, they might never have met up and none of this would have happened.”
Sajad will break his silence (with Mohammed Hashim’s father, Sikander Hayat) before appearing in the ITV documentary, TikTok: Murder Gone Viral – The Mother.
Sajad, a chauffeur-driven driver, says, “Saqib, the apple of our eye. And owner Sikander, 51, says of his son: “Mohammed is a lovely soul.
“He is absolutely innocent. He had nothing to do with anything. “
“The two boys killed for trivial things. “
Starting tonight with this case, the new three-part series explores criminal cases similar to TikTok.
It highlights how Mehek, who had dropped out of school to pursue a career in social media, lived the best life, attending parties and liberation events, accompanied by his mother.
Ansreen said in court: “When I got married I was like a housewife, but with this TikTok thing I was going out more.
“It’s like two other lives. It’s more exciting. We went out and met other people and everything. “
She met 18-year-old Saqib through video calling and livestreaming platform Azar, and he allegedly told her he was 27.
During their three-year relationship, they met for sex dates in hotels in Birmingham and London.
He was said to have lavished £3,000 on date nights and gifts, until things turned sour and she tried to break off the relationship in January 2022.
Saqib fought the rejection and reported that he tried to blackmail Ansreen by threatening to send nude photographs of her to her son and husband unless she returned the money he had spent on her.
Ansreen confided in daughter Mahek, who responded to her mother via WhatsApp: “I’ll get him jumped by guys and he won’t know what day it is.”
The mother and daughter then set a trap for him, promised to return the cash and made an appointment with Saqib in the parking lot of a Leicester supermarket.
Saqib got a lift to the meeting point with friend Mohammed Hashim, who he had known since primary school.
They arrived early and temporarily discovered that it was an ambush. Mehek had enlisted the help of his followers, some of whom were present, wearing balaclavas and carrying weapons.
The heartbreaking 999 call made through Saqib just minutes before the fatal accident occurred in court.
He said: “I’m being followed by two cars and they want to block me. I can’t go to a police station; I want help now. “
“There are guys following me. They wear balaclavas. They’re here to get me off the road.
“They’re going to kill me, I’m going to die. “
After calling the operator, Saqib pleades, “I was hit in the back very quickly. Please, I beg you, I will die. “
He then lets out a scream before the line goes dead.
The Skoda Fabia had crashed into a tree and “split in two” on impact.
Sajad says: “That’s probably the hardest part — to listen to his last words, knowing how they feared for their lives in those moments. He was begging for help.”
But he says the call is “the most vital lead in this case” because it helped detectives locate the Bukharis and their associates.
Footage of Mehek shows her eagerness to tell detectives that she is an influential person before weaving a web of lies about her whereabouts and what happened that night.
Both have denied two counts of manslaughter and two counts of involuntary manslaughter. Both men were convicted of double homicide after a three-month trial at Leicester Crown Court last August.
Mehek was sentenced to at least 31 years and eight months, while his mother Ansreen was sentenced to at least 26 years and nine months.
Sajad says: “I have no sympathy for them because of the amount of lies they have told and the fact that they show no remorse whatsoever. “
Defendants Rekan Karwan, 29, and Raees Jamal, 23, who were recruited through the Bukharis and drove the cars chasing them, were also sentenced to life imprisonment, with a minimum sentence of 26 years, ten months and 31 years respectively.
Jamal was also found guilty of rape in a separate case, bringing his minimum sentence to 36 years and forty-five days.
Three others were convicted of involuntary manslaughter. Natasha Akhtar, 23, was sentenced to 11 years and 8 months in prison, while Ameer Jamal, 28, and Sanaf Gulamustafa, 23, were sentenced to 14 years and 8 months and 14 years and nine months, respectively. One of the 8 defendants was acquitted.
Sajad said one of the reasons he decided to speak out is because he feels his son was also the victim of “defamation” by the defendants in the trial.
Mahek said in court that Saqib “was just pure nasty”. Sajad says: “Only the defendants are here to give their version of events.
“I thought our son needed a voice for everything that had happened. “
He doesn’t know why Saqib kept the relationship a secret, but says that the young man’s friends have since said they know he is dating “an older woman. “
Sajad also wants to clarify that there was no sex tape.
He says, “These were nude photographs that were sent to him voluntarily.
“I wasn’t interested in cash. I think I wanted to see her one last time. If he had tried to blackmail her, the amount of cash would not have been so small.
And Sikander, Mohammed Hashim’s father, says: “If I had known, I would have collected the £3,000 myself. But it’s not about the money. Saqib worked at a local bakery as a transient clerk before turning to his dream task: working at a car dealership. Sikander was about to tell his son, who worked at an Amazon warehouse, about enrolling in an electrical or fuel engineering course when police knocked on his door to tell him he was dead.
He said, “When she said that, the carpet fell on my feet. “
The children’s mothers are too distraught to attend the trial.
Sikander adds, “There’s not a day that goes by that I don’t think about my son. “
Sajad says they had a hard time coming to terms with the tragedy. He explains: “All the defendants have appealed.
“I know there is little chance of them being successful, but that doesn’t allow us to live our lives. “
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