India's capital Delhi is blanketed in toxic smog every autumn, but the pollution is already so bad that it's drawn protests as authorities tell students to stay home.

Monday evening was busy as usual near the Red Fort metro station in India's capital Delhi when the sound of a loud blast broke through the cacophony on the streets.

The move follows a weekend protest where police detained dozens of people demanding cleaner air, a rare public demonstration against pollution in the Indian capital.

A shocking new CCTV video from Delhi’s Red Fort area has surfaced, capturing the exact moment the car exploded amid heavy traffic. The footage shows a sudden flash followed by chaos as vehicles halt and people rush to safety.

Delhi Police Commissioner Satish Golcha says it happened around 18:52 local time (13:22 GMT), when a slow-moving vehicle stopped at a red light before it exploded. There were three people in the Hyundai i20 vehicle when it happened, police tell the BBC.

Delhi’s air quality stayed in the ‘severe’ category for the second day with an AQI of 414. Authorities enforced GRAP Stage III curbs as toxic smog continued to blanket the national capital.

A CCTV footage that captured the exact moment of the powerful explosion near Delhi's Red Fort surfaced today. The visual showed busy traffic movements before a sudden fireball engulfed the screen.

Police sources added that agencies are also scanning CCTV footage from the mosque area and nearby streets to reconstruct Umar's movements before the explosion