A 22-year-old TikTok star, Mahek Bukhari, known on the platform as May B Vlogs, and a group of four others have been charged with murder following the tragic death of two men. The TikTok Vlogger was involved in a road traffic collision that prosecutors are deeming deliberate.
Mahek Bukhari, her mother, and three other people are facing charges of murder after appearing in Leicester Magistrates Court on Tuesday. The TikTok influencer, with a following of 126,000 people, was arrested after a road traffic incident where Mahek Bukhari allegedly forced another vehicle off the road. Unlike a Twitch streamer who crashed his car while reading chat, it does not appear that Mahek Bukhari was online at the time.
In the early hours of February 11, on the A46, a vehicle was "run off the road" before splitting in two. Saqib Hussain, 21, and Mohammed Hashim Ijazuddin, also 21, died after being forced off the road and crashing into a central reservation in Leicestershire, England. The pair, reportedly cousins from Banbury, Oxfordshire, suffered fatal injuries in the crash at 1:35 am.
In the days following the incident, five people were arrested. They included TikTok star Mahek Bukahri. Also arrested is her mother Ansreen Bukhari, 45, Natasha Akhtar, 21, Raees Jamal, 21, and Rekan Karwan, 28. Mahek Bukhari was previously known to a following of around 160,000 people across Instagram and TikTok. TikTok recently overtook Google as the most popular site on the internet, and Bukhari posted her lifestyle content on the platform under the username May B Vlogs.
Prosecutor for the victims, Mohammed Zarandouz, said that during the high-speed chase in the early hours of February 11 one of the victims called 999 to alert police. He said: “Unfortunately a loud scream could be heard from the caller and the call disconnected.” The police have announced that support is being provided to the families of Mr Hussain and Mr Ijazuddin. Mahek and the four others are facing charges of murder. Road traffic accidents like this usually carry a manslaughter charge. However, there are allegations that Bukhari chased the victims and rammed them off the road.
Mahek is not the first TikTok influencer to be accused of murder. TikTok Star JinnKid was arrested and accused of murdering his wife and her friend in October 2021. Ali Nasser Abulaban, a 29-year-old going by the online name of JinnKid, confessed to shooting two people, including his wife following a breakup. Abulaban was recognized for his Skyrim in Real Life series in which he enacted how Skyrim NPC's would behave in the real world.
