Murder-accused 'told TikToker Mahek Bukhari to expose blackmailer'

Rekan Karwan was one of the two drivers who followed Saqib Hussain and Hashim Ijazuddin along the A46

A man accused of killing two men told his influencer co-defendant she should expose one of the victims as a blackmailer, a court has heard.

Hashim Ijazuddin and Saqib Hussain, both 21, died in a crash on the A46 in Leicestershire in February 2022.

It is claimed a group in two cars rammed the pair off the road to keep secret an affair between Ansreen Bukhari and Mr Hussain.

Rekan Karwan, one of the drivers, denies murder.

He and seven others - including Mrs Bukhari and her TikTok influencer daughter Mahek - deny two counts of murder and an alternative charge of manslaughter.

Leicester Crown Court has previously heard Mr Hussain, from Banbury, Oxfordshire, had been blackmailing Mrs Bukhari with sexual videos and images from their three-year affair.

The prosecution say the defendants enticed him and his friend Mr Ijazuddin to Leicester for a meeting under false pretences before the fatal crash.

Ansreen Bukhari and her social media influencer daughter Mahek (right) are on trial

Footage from the car park where the meeting was due to take place showed Mr Hussain and Mr Ijazuddin never got out of their Skoda Fabia, and the prosecution say this was because they became suspicious.

Instead, they left the car park, followed by a Seat Leon and Audi TT containing the defendants.

The court has previously heard Mr Karwan was told by Ms Bukhari that herself, not her mother, was being blackmailed by Mr Hussain with fake naked images.

Mr Karwan was asked to contact Mr Hussain in order to try to stop the blackmail attempts and told him he would facilitate a payment of £3,000.

A number of calls and texts were exchanged between the pair in the days before Mr Hussain died, the court heard.

Mr Karwan told the jury he advised Ms Bukhari to contact the police but she "wasn't keen".

Mr Ijazuddin (left) and Mr Hussain died at the scene of the crash

He then said she should go to Mr Hussain's address in Banbury to alert his family to what he was doing.

Asked why he suggested this by his barrister Mark Rainsford KC, Mr Karwan said: "If I was blackmailing someone and somebody told my family, how would my family react?

"I'd expect every family to be the same... I thought his elders would tell him off."

He told the court Ms Bukhari was due to go to London on the same weekend of the crash and he thought she would visit Banbury either on the way or on her return to her home in Stoke-on-Trent.

The prosecution claims the car carrying Hashim Ijazuddin and Saqib Hussain was rammed off the road

Mr Rainsford asked: "Did you formulate a strategy for resolving this problem [Mahek] had with Saqib?"

Mr Karwan said he did not.

"If she didn't want to go to the police, then the only way is to let the family know, it was a suggestion," Mr Karwan said.

Asked about the crash, Mr Karwan said he was about "three of four car lengths behind" when it happened.

He added he was "devastated" when he found out the two men had died but had "no idea" how they came to their deaths.

Front, from left: Ansreen Bukhari, Mahek Bukhari, Rekan Karwan, Raees Jamal with back, from 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, 24, of George Eardley Close, Stoke-on-Trent

• Rekan Karwan, 29, of Tomlin Road, Leicester

• Raees Jamal, 23, 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.