TikTok influencer and her five co-conspirators accused of murdering two men, released on bail

 Image by LeicestershireLive/BirminghamLive

After the collapse of their trial, TikTok influencer Mahek Bukhari, her mother Ansreen and four others, who are facing murder charges, have been released from custody pending a retrial which will take place in the new year, BirminghamLive reports.

An appeal for the bail of the six defendants was made by their barristers at the Leicester Crown Court on Wednesday, 14 December. This was held in private with the barristers for Mahek and Ansreen Bukhari, Natasha Akhtar, Mohammed Patel, Ammeer Jamal and Sanaf Gulammustafa appealing to the trial judge, Mr Justice Saini, to release their clients.

The accused, who have been behind bars since their arrest in February and March this year, were finally let out after their applications for bail were granted. They are facing trial for the murder of two 21-year-old men, Mohammed Hashim Ijazuddin and Saqib Hussain, who died in a fatal crash on the A46 motorway in Leicester.

Initially, the trial was supposed to begin in the summer time but due to a delay, it commenced in October. However, a major setback was seen in the case when the judge dismissed the entire jury due to internal “irregularities” among the members.

A total of eight defendants are involved in this case, who are waiting for the trial to restart from the beginning and face charges of murder and an alternative charge of manslaughter over the deaths. No trial date or location has been set yet, with six of them to remain out on bail until the next hearing, BirminghamLive has reported.

The eight defendants, who have denied the charges against them, are: Natasha Akhtar, 22, of Alum Rock Road, Birmingham, Mahek Bukhari, 23, and Ansreen Bukhari, 47, both of George Eardley Close, Tunstall, Raees Jamal, 22, of Lingdale Close, Loughborough, Rekan Karwan, 28, of Tomlin Road, Northfields, Leicester, Mohammed Patel, 20, of Braybrooke Road, Northfields, Leicester, Sanaf Gulammustafa, 22, of Littlemore Close, Crown Hills, Leicester, and Ameer Jamal, 27, of Catherine Street, Belgrave, Leicester.