CALGARY Months before Harsimrat Kahlon was found dead in her basement suite with the hidden bodies of three newborn babies, she told her live-in boyfriend she'd had an abortion.
However, police believe, based on search warrants obtained by the Calgary Herald, two of the babies were actually delivered at home by the woman.
It's the first glimpse offered into the mystery surrounding the seemingly reluctant mother and suspicious deaths of three secret babies Kahlon kept hidden from the rest of the world.
Now, after a five-month investigation, police are on the brink of announcing their findings and autopsy results in one of the most disturbing cases the city has seen.
The search warrant reveals that Kahlon's live-in boyfriend told investigators he knew she was pregnant last spring, but believed she had had an abortion.
But Kahlon had been pregnant before. In 2005, the woman gave birth to a healthy daughter she named Reet at Peter Lougheed Centre.
In the summer of 2009, two more babies were born inside Kahlon's northeast Calgary basement suite. She never named those children.
All three infants were found dead inside Kahlon's bedroom in Taradale last fall.
Two to three months before the 27-year-old woman was found dead, Kahlon frequently sprayed air freshener to mask the putrid smell of the tiny decomposing bodies and bloodied towels wrapped in layers of garbage bags, according to the warrants.
Reet's body was hidden inside a suitcase.
The other two shared a box. They may have been twins, as one placenta was found with them.
Kahlon, called Simmi by friends, visited a doctor last April and inquired about an abortion, the document says. She missed her appointment, but told her boyfriend she was no longer pregnant, he told detectives.
Instead, investigators believed Kahlon concealed her pregnancy and the home birth of her children.
Police also suspected Kahlon used a section of garden hose as a "crude instrument to aid in birth."
The grisly evidence unfolded when Kahlon was discovered dead at home by her boyfriend Harnet Mahal Oct. 4, 2009, in their shared rented basement suite.
Police say Kahlon's death is not suspicious, but they have not said whether it was natural or a suicide.
The couple lived in separate bedrooms, the warrant says. While sorting through Kahlon's belongings the next day, Mahal opened a suitcase that contained a decaying baby girl. It was Reet, still wearing a hospital ID bracelet. The name of the baby's father doesn't appear on hospital papers.
A few hours later, another unthinkable discovery was made. Mahal's sister found another dead baby boy in a box.
When the medical examiner opened that bag, there were actually two dead infants and one placenta found inside.
Preliminary findings revealed the two babies were probably born alive, as they had oxygen in their lungs and stomach, the document says.
There are few answers about Kahlon's life leading up to the deaths, and whether she was an unwilling mother of unwanted babies.
Family, friends and co-workers say they were shocked to learn Kahlon had been pregnant and given birth.
Kahlon grew up in Chandigarh, India, and came to Calgary to live with relatives in 1999.
Kahlon left her aunt and uncle's Martindale home before she gave birth to Reet.
Relatives said they knew nothing of a pregnancy, and "had no contact with her," despite living in a nearby neighbourhood.
Kahlon first lived in a Falconridge basement suite before moving to Taradale with her boyfriend in 2006.
Neighbours along the family-lined street say the couple kept to themselves and they saw no evidence of children at the residence.
Kahlon, who worked as a receptionist for a law office, was described as a hard worker who seemed happy.
szickefoose@theherald.canwest.com
