Naman Shrestha
When the British authorities received a chilling 999 call in the early hours from Saqib Hussain and Hashim Ijazuddin in February 2022, they heard the last moments of the two friends, who were screaming for help. All the intricate details of the case and the investigation that ensued are covered in the episode titled ‘Mahek Bukhari: The TikTok Murders’ of Hulu’s ’20/20 Britain’s Most Notorious Crime Investigations.’ During the investigation, detectives uncovered a deadly plot and a blackmail scheme, leading to the apprehension of the perpetrators.
Hashim Ijazuddin and Saqib Hussain Died in a High-Speed Car Crash
Born around 2001, Mohammed Hashim Ijazuddin and Saqib Hussain were close friends who met each other in primary school. Their friendship solidified after secondary school as they went to college together. They led a seemingly content life with their respective families in Oxfordshire, England. Hashim and Saqib had a close-knit bond with their respective fathers, Sikander Hayat and Sajad Hussain. In the early hours of February 11, 2022, Hashim told his mother that he was going to give a friend a lift and would be back home soon. Saqib also told his father that he was going out for a while. The two friends headed to a Tesco car park located on the outskirts of Leicester.
A few minutes later, around 1:28 am, the authorities received a 999 call from Saqib, who told the dispatcher that they were being chased by balaclava-wearing assailants, who were trying to ram them off the road. He said, “They’re trying to kill me, they’re trying to kill me. I’m just getting rammed off the road.” Seconds later, their Skoda crashed into a tree along the A46 by the Six Hills junction near Leicester and went up in flames. Both Hashim and Saqib were declared dead on the spot after identifying them through dental records.
Police Apprehended Multiple Suspects Linked to Hashim and Saqib’s Fatal Crash
As part of the investigation, the detectives retraced Hashim Ijazuddin and Saqib Hussain’s movements before the car crash using CCTV footage. Within three hours, they identified their car in surveillance footage of the nearby Tesco car park. They also noticed the other two cars, including an Audi TT, that began chasing them. After determining the Audi TT’s registration number, they were led to a popular TikTok influencer, Mahek Bukhari, a resident of Stoke-on-Trent. Soon, local officers knocked on the Bukhari residence, where Mahek lived with her mother, Ansreen Bukhari. When they asked Mahek about her whereabouts at the time of the accident, she initially provided false statements, denying any involvement in Hashim and Saqib’s deaths, according to court testimony.
Both Mahek, a fashion student, and Ansreen, who worked in retail, were arrested on suspicion of murder. On February 12, 2022, around 4:15 pm, the mother and daughter were interviewed separately. While Mahek maintained her innocence, Ansreen responded with “no comment” to all the questions. Upon digging deeper into their lives, the detectives learned that Ansreen had been having affairs behind her husband’s back, and her daughter, Mahek, had been keeping her secrets. Soon, the investigators tied a law student named Natasha Akhtar to the crime as her blue SEAT Leon was also chasing down Hashim and Saqib’s car. Natasha also responded to the questions with “no comment.”
The Murderous Plot Was Revealed Through a Perpetrator’s Cell Phone Data
By examining the cell phone records of Ansreen and Natasha, the police tied Raees Jamal and Rekan Karwan to the crime as the women had been placing calls to them at regular intervals on the fateful night. As the two men’s cell phone data placed them near the crime scene, they were also arrested. The CCTV footage of a nearby street in Leicester showed a group of seven people walking together at around 2 am after the crash. Five of them had already been arrested, and the remaining three — Mohammed Patel, Sanaf Gulammustafa, and Ameer Jamal — were also taken into custody by March 18, 2022. More than a year later, on April 17, 2023, the detectives gained access to Mahek’s PIN-locked phone and discovered the motive behind the crash.
After going through Mahek’s phone, the police found about 1,700 calls or messages between Saqib Hussain and Ansreen Bukhari from August 2021 to February 2022, indicating they had been having an affair for about three years. When Ansreen wanted to break up in January 2022, Saqib allegedly threatened to circulate their messages and her explicit photos. It is alleged that he also threatened to tell her husband about the affair if she didn’t pay him £3,000. When Ansreen told Mahek about the situation, the latter sent her a text that read: “I’ll get him jumped by guys and he won’t know what day it is.” Prosecutors successfully argued that the mother and daughter hatched a plot to silence Saqib, with Mahek contacting Rekan, who then recruited others to carry out the ambush. According to prosecutors, the group lured Saqib under the pretense of paying him the money before ambushing him and Hashim, leading to the fatal crash.
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Mahek and Ansreen Bukhari Appear to Be Incarcerated in Separate English Prisons Today
On April 19, 2023, Mahek and Ansreen Bukhari’s murder trial commenced. The prosecution told the jury that Hashim and Saqib were lured by the defendants under the pretense of returning Saqib’s money. The defense highlighted the alleged threats made by Saqib. After a long trial, on August 4, both women were found guilty of the murders. In September 2023, while Mahek was sentenced to a minimum of 31 years and eight months in prison, Ansreen was sentenced to 26 years and nine months. Meanwhile, Rekan and Raees were also found guilty of murder and were sentenced to a minimum of 26 years and 10 months in prison and a minimum of 36 years, respectively. As for Natasha, Ameer, and Sanaf, they were convicted of manslaughter and sentenced to 11 years and eight months, 14 years and eight months, and 14 years and nine months, respectively.
The co-accused, Mohammed Patel, was found not guilty of murder or manslaughter and acquitted of all charges. A couple of years later, on October 17, 2025, Mahek’s defense counsel filed an appeal seeking a reduced sentence, arguing that her age and immaturity warranted a lesser sentence. On October 24, the Court of Appeals agreed to the appeal and reduced her sentence to 26 years and 285 days. The sentences of other accomplices were also reduced — Natasha’s to 9 years and 8 months, Ameer’s to 12 years and 8 months, and Sanaf’s to 12 years and 9 months. However, on July 3, 2026, Ansreen Bukhari’s appeal to reduce her sentence was denied by the Court of Appeal, which found the sentence justified. As of today, Mahek and Ansreen are serving their respective sentences at different prison facilities in England.
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