The police officer who led the investigation into the murder of two men has said the conviction of seven people in connection with their deaths is “a relief”.
TikTok content creator Mahek Bukhari, her mother Ansreen Bukhari and fellow defendants Rekhan Karwan and Raees Jamal were found guilty on Friday of murdering Saqib Hussain and Mohammed Hashim Ijazuddin by ramming their car off the A46 outside Leicester in February last year.
Natasha Akhtar, Ameer Jamal and Sanaf Gulamustafa were all cleared of murder but found guilty of two counts of manslaughter.
A trial at Leicester Crown Court heard how Mr Hussain and Mr Ijazuddin, both 21, were driven off the road by the defendants to “silence” Mr Hussain, who had been having an affair with 46-year-old Ansreen.
Prosecutors said that Mahek, 24, organised for the victims to be “jumped” to prevent Mr Hussain from releasing sexually explicit material involving him and Ansreen.
Detective Inspector Mark Parish, of the East Midlands Major Crime Unit, said: “It’s been an extremely long investigation and it’s a massive amount of work that has gone into this.
“We’re satisfied at the end of it. We presented a really good case, a really strong case.
“For the [victims’] families, it’s not the end of the road, but it’s at least some closure for them from a court perspective and they have clearly been with us every day through this investigation.
“For all parties, it’s a relief.”
The defendants originally stood trial in October last year but the trial collapsed last December over a jury irregularity, with the retrial beginning in April.
The police investigation began after Mr Hussain and Mr Ijazuddin’s Seat Leon crashed in the early hours of February 11 2022.
Their Skoda Fabia hit a tree with such force it split in half and caught fire, but police later realised Mr Hussain had called 999 moments before his death to say they were being followed by masked assailants who had rammed their car during a chase which reached speeds of 100mph.
During the call, heard by the jury, Mr Hussain said: “They’re trying to ram us off the road. Please, I’m begging you, I’m going to die.”
The Seat Leon involved in the chase was found just four hours later being driven by Natasha Akhtar, with the Audi involved linked to Mahek Bukhari’s home just eight hours later.
CCTV and ANPR footage, combined with mobile phone GPS data, allowed the remaining occupants of the two vehicles during the chase to be identified and charged within five weeks as officers built the case.
But Ansreen Bukhari had wiped her phone of all contact with Mr Hussain prior to handing it over to police and Mahek provided the wrong PIN for her device, meaning some crucial details were only found shortly before the first trial, Mr Parish said.
The breakthrough finally came when data became available from Mr Hussain’s phone, which was destroyed in the crash.
Mr Parish said: “We were able to obtain the phone data from Saqib’s destroyed phone, which showed the contents, the phone calls, the social media and more importantly the photographs of him and Ansreen Bukhari that really brought the whole investigation together.”
He said it showed there had been a sexual relationship between them, which was something they denied.
The trial heard how Mr Hussain had blackmailed Mrs Bukhari with sexually explicit material after she had broken off their affair in January 2022.
The Crown’s KC, Collingwood Thompson, said that Mr Hussain “could not accept that decision” and became “increasingly obsessive”, threatening to send the material to his former lover’s husband.
I am sorry that this year you’ll be gone, Saqib— Mahek Bukhari to Saqib Hussain
Ansreen confided in her daughter, who sent her mother a message on January 4 2022 which read: “I’ll get him jumped by guys and he won’t know what day it is.”
The jury were told that other co-defendants were recruited over social media to “ambush” Mr Hussain and Mr Ijazuddin in order to “silence him permanently”.
After finally gaining access to Mahek’s phone, officers found a host of WhatsApp messages between her and Mr Hussain, in one of which she told him: “I am sorry that this year you’ll be gone, Saqib.”
It also showed that Mahek had spoken to 29-year-old Karwan prior to Mr Hussain’s murder regarding the situation her mother was in.
Karwan then recruited Raees Jamal, 23, and others to “set a trap” for Mr Hussain and Mr Ijazuddin, who had travelled to Leicester from Banbury, Oxfordshire.
Speaking about the role social media played in the case, Mr Parish said: “The dynamics of those devices, networks and platforms means it is more difficult but not impossible to identify and capture.
“We’ve managed to achieve that and we’ve managed to achieve a considerable amount of evidence to support this investigation.
“The world of social media does offer different challenges to the police and investigations, against the traditional phone calls and text messages, but it’s not impossible to capture.”
Mr Parish also said that Mr Ijazuddin was in the “wrong place, wrong time”, with the victim having no connection to the case other than travelling with Mr Hussain to Leicester.
It was a decision that prosecutors described as a “fatal mistake that cost him his life”.
Mr Parish said: “Clearly Saqib and Hashim were two young lads.
“There is evidence that Saqib had been harassing or blackmailing [Ansreen] and they had a significant amount of contact leading up to 11th of February.
“The opportunity would have been there for Ansreen and Mahek Bukhari to go to the local police, something they decided not to do.
“Hashim was just a friend, just somebody helping out a friend to drive him to Leicester, he knew nobody else.
“He didn’t know any of the defendants.
“The only person who was in the wrong place at the wrong time was Hashim. Saqib didn’t deserve what happened, the two lads didn’t deserve what happened to them, but he was just helping a friend out.”
Mahek and Ansreen Bukhari, both of George Eardley Close, Tunstall, Stoke-on-Trent, will be sentenced on September 1.
They will be joined by their five co-defendants Raees Jamal, of Lingdale CLose, Loughborough; Karwan, of Tomlin Road, Leicester; Ameer Jamal, 27, of Catherine Street, Leicester; Gulammustafa, 23, of Littlemore Close, Leicester; and Akhtar, 23, of Alum Rock Road, Birmingham.
Mohammed Patel, 21, of Braybrooke Road, Leicester, was cleared of murder and manslaughter.
