Mahek Bukhari: Crash victim 'head over heels' for TikToker's mother

Mohammed Hashim Ijazuddin (left) and Saqib Hussain died at the scene

A man who died after allegedly being rammed off a road was "head over heels" in love with a woman accused of his murder, a court heard.

Saqib Hussain and his friend Hashim Ijazuddin, both 21, from Oxfordshire, died on the A46 near Leicester in February 2022.

Prosecutors say the crash was part of a plot to keep an affair between Mr Hussain and Ansreen Bukhari a secret.

Mr Hussain's sister gave evidence at Leicester Crown Court on Wednesday.

Mahek Bukhari (right) and her mother Ansreen are on trial with six others

Social media influencer Mahek Bukhari, 23, her 46-year-old mother and six others deny murder and an alternative charge of manslaughter.

At the opening of the retrial on Monday, the prosecution said Mr Hussain had been blackmailing his former lover with sexual videos and images from their affair.

It is claimed the defendants enticed him and his friend Mr Ijazuddin to Leicester for a meeting before ramming their car off the road, causing both men's deaths.

Prosecutor Collingwood Thompson KC said "other defendants became involved in what happened", claiming it became clear the Bukharis needed to "silence" Mr Hussain.

'Loved her so much'

Giving evidence from behind a curtain, Sana Hussain told the jury she was close to her brother and they had "shared everything" with each other.

She explained she was aware of the affair - which lasted about three years - with Ms Bukhari, of George Eardley Close, Stoke-on-Trent.

"He was head over heels for her... he loved her so much," she said.

"He was always talking about her, he was always going [to places] to see her."

Mahek had posted on social media about being close to her mother

She told the court her brother, who worked shifts at a bakery, had "spent his savings" - thought to be about £3,000 - on Ms Bukhari and recalled him buying her a pair of Dior shoes.

She also remembered meeting the married mother-of-two outside a Holiday Inn hotel in Birmingham where Mr Hussain and his lover spent the night for his 19th birthday.

Ms Hussain said the pair would argue and get back together but her brother had told her Ms Bukhari had broken things off completely at the end of 2021, about six weeks before he died.

"He was upset, he was crying," she told the court.

"He said something about her husband finding out... she had to pick between him and Saqib."

The court previously heard Mr Hussain had demanded £3,000 was transferred back to him to cover what he had spent on their dates.

His sister said she heard Ansreen Bukhari on speakerphone say if he wanted the money, he would have to come to Leicester to collect it.

"I thought he was stupid to do that [but] he told me to leave it and that he trusted her," she said.

After returning from a night shift on the day he died, Ms Hussain said she was told the family did not know where her brother was, so she sent Ansreen Bukhari a WhatsApp message to ask if she knew.

"I told her I was worried sick and if she knew where he was," she told the court.

She said there was no reply to the message but the app showed it had been received.

(From front left) Ansreen Bukhari, Mahek Bukari, Rekan Karwan, Raees Jamal with (from top left) Ameer Jamal, Sanaf Gulammustafa, Natasha Akhtar and Mohammed Patel

The defendants are:

Ansreen Bukhari, 46, of George Eardley Close, Stoke-on-Trent

Mahek Bukhari, 23, of George Eardley Close, Stoke-on-Trent

Rekan Karwan, 29, of Tomlin Road, Leicester

Raees Jamal, 22, of Lingdale Close, Loughborough

Mohammed Patel, 21, of Braybrooke Road, Leicester

Natasha Akhtar, 23, of Alum Rock Road, Birmingham

Sanaf Gulammustafa, 23, of Littlemore Close, Leicester

Ameer Jamal, 28, of Catherine Street, Leicester

The trial continues.