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Matchbox Shots Buys Rights to Book on 2017 Gurugram School Murder

The adaptation aims to probe investigative lapses with a focus on pressures facing urban children, signaling renewed public attention to school safety.

Overview

  • Matchbox Shots announced on May 27, 2026 that it has acquired screen rights to Leena Dhankhar’s 2024 book The Gurugram School Murder.
  • The book chronicles the Sept. 8, 2017 killing of a seven-year-old boy known publicly as Prince, whose body was found in a school bathroom with his throat slit.
  • Dhankhar’s reporting documents how local police first detained a school bus conductor before the Central Bureau of Investigation later arrested a student accused of killing the child to delay exams.
  • Dikssha Jyote Routray of Matchbox Shots will helm the project and the victim’s family has publicly backed the adaptation, while no format, cast, or release timetable has been announced.
  • Matchbox Shots is a Mumbai production house mentored by filmmaker Sriram Raghavan and its handling of this material could revive public debate over school safety, police practice, and the family’s long search for accountability.