One of the junior doctors thrashed by a group after the death of a patient at NRS Medical College and Hospital is a son of a retired primary school teacher and an anganwadi worker from Howrah’s Domjur.

Paribaha Mukhopadhyay, whose skull fractured after being hit by a heavy object on Tuesday, was rushed to the Institute of Neurosciences (INS) in Mullickbazar, where he underwent surgery in the afternoon.

Doctors said he was stable but would be under observation for a few days.

Yash Tekwani, the other injured junior doctor, hails from Raipur in Chhattisgarh. His Facebook profile suggests he is into bodybuilding and loves memes.

Tekwani suffered head injuries, too, and is under observation in the critical care unit of NRS Medical College and Hospital. “He is conscious and stable,” an official at the hospital said.

Mukhopadhyay was taken to the Mullickbazar hospital around 3.20am on Tuesday. A CT scan revealed he had suffered a depression fracture in the right frontal lobe of the skull.

“There is no broken bone but a part of the skull has dented towards the brain cavity,” said Hrishikesh Kumar, consultant neurologist at INS.

Depression fractures are common in assault with blunt objects, said doctors. A pointy object is more likely to penetrate the skull than a blunt one.

The surgery that started around 3.30pm went on for about two hours. A team of six, including Kumar, elevated the depression and cleaned the wound around the dent.

Mukhopadhyay’s family members and friends from Domjur, who were waiting anxiously at the hospital since early on Tuesday, heaved a sigh of relief after the operation was over.

Mukhopadhyay’s father taught at a primary school in Domjur and his mother is an anganwadi (rural child care project) worker. The doctor studied at Domjur’s Jhapordah Duke Institution.

“He has always got scholarships. The entire neighbourhood celebrated when he cracked the medical entrance exams,” said Phalguni Banerjee, his cousin and a member of Domjur Gram Panchayat.

His father is ailing and unaware of the details of the incident, said Phalguni, among the relatives who turned up at INS.

“He (Mukhopadhyay) was fully conscious on admission and he alleged that he was hit by a stone on the head after which he had a brief loss of consciousness and one episode of convulsion,” read a statement issued by INS.

Neurologist Kumar put to rest rumours swirling on social media that Mukhopadhyay had slipped into a coma. “A repeat CT scan showed no further damage. He is out of danger,” Kumar said.

Mukhopadhyay will be kept in the intensive care unit for constant monitoring for 24 to 48 hours. After that, he will be shifted to the general ward, an official said.

Tekwani’s injuries were comparatively less critical. Tekwani is an alumnus of Raipur’s Rajkumar College, one of the oldest public schools in the country. The school celebrated its centenary in 1982.

From posing with a snow doll at Kufri in Himachal Pradesh to holding a newborn, apparently his “first ever normal delivery with episiotomy”, Tekwani’s Facebook account is loaded with pictures.