A woman with 126,000 TikTok and 43,000 Instagram followers, has been charged with murdering two young men, one of which was allegedly having an affair with her mother.
The murder, which was allegedly done with the cooperation of six other people, was an attempt to keep the relationship between her mother and one of the men secret.
Mahek Bukhari, 22, also known as “Maya” on social media channels, was well-known for her posts about hair, fashion and cosmetics.
Mahek Bukhari, her 45-year-old mother Ansreen Bukhari, and six other people were charged in the murder of Mohammed Hashim Ijazuddin, 21, and Saqib Hussain, 21. They were accused of running the two men off the road in Leicester, United Kingdom, February 11 of this year, causing a motor vehicle accident that led to the deaths of both men.
Mohammed Hashim Ijazuddin and Saqib Hussain died after their car rammed into a tree just after midnight and burst into flames.
Right before the car crashed into the tree, Hussain called the police for help and told operators that the car he was in was being rammed and run off the road by two cars with people with balaclavas over their heads, covering their faces.
In the Leicester courtroom, prosecutors replayed the 999 calls and court attendees could hear Hussain’s cries for help.
The last thing he said was, “Oh my God,” then he screamed and a massive bang followed before the call was dropped. Police exhibited video footage that showed the victims’ car engulfed in flames.
The two men were from Banbury, Oxfordshire and were good friends most of their lives. Ijazuddin, the car’s owner, had agreed to give Hussain a lift that night to Leicester, but it was an unfortunate gesture that cost him his life.
During police investigations, Hussain’s family admitted that the young man had been involved in a romantic affair with the 45-year-old Bukhari for three years while she was still married.
During their affair, Hussain had recorded sexually explicit footage, as well as photos and videos of him and the elder Bukhari together. The woman tried to break up with him in January, but he became obsessed, and begged and harassed her.
Bukhari stopped answering his calls, which made him angry, and he started threatening to tell her husband about the affair and to blackmail her.
The prosecution alleges that the mom having the affair confided about the problem to her daughter, which led to the conspiracy to undertake the homicides.
The prosecutor said the murder was deliberate, and that the group lured the two victims to a car park before they attacked them.
The prosecution also said the defendants lied repeatedly in their testimonies, and tried to concoct a story to cover up their involvement in the murders.
Both influencer Mahek Bukhari and her mother, Ansreen Bukhari, deny any involvement in the murders.