diff --git a/qa/restart-upgrade/build.gradle b/qa/restart-upgrade/build.gradle
index 628b62352..3fc1e1be5 100644
--- a/qa/restart-upgrade/build.gradle
+++ b/qa/restart-upgrade/build.gradle
@@ -45,6 +45,9 @@ testClusters {
         systemProperty 'tests.skip_delete_model_index', 'true'
         systemProperty 'tests.plugin_bwc_version', knn_bwc_version
 
+        filter {
+            excludeTestsMatching "org.opensearch.knn.bwc.ModelIT.testNonKNNIndex_withModelId"
+        }
         // Skip test if version is 1.0 or 1.1 as they are not supported in those versions
         if (knn_bwc_version.startsWith("1.0") || knn_bwc_version.startsWith("1.1")) {
             filter {
@@ -96,6 +99,12 @@ testClusters {
                 excludeTestsMatching "org.opensearch.knn.bwc.IndexingIT.testKNNIndexLuceneForceMerge"
             }
         }
+        if (knn_bwc_version.startsWith("2.15.") ||
+                knn_bwc_version.startsWith("2.16.")){
+            filter {
+                includeTestsMatching "org.opensearch.knn.bwc.ModelIT.testNonKNNIndex_withModelId"
+            }
+        }
 
         nonInputProperties.systemProperty('tests.rest.cluster', "${-> testClusters."${baseName}".allHttpSocketURI.join(",")}")
         nonInputProperties.systemProperty('tests.clustername', "${-> testClusters."${baseName}".getName()}")
@@ -118,6 +127,10 @@ testClusters {
         systemProperty 'tests.is_old_cluster', 'false'
         systemProperty 'tests.plugin_bwc_version', knn_bwc_version
 
+        filter {
+            excludeTestsMatching "org.opensearch.knn.bwc.ModelIT.testNonKNNIndex_withModelId"
+        }
+
         // Skip test if version is 1.0 or 1.1 as they are not supported in those versions
         if (knn_bwc_version.startsWith("1.0") || knn_bwc_version.startsWith("1.1")) {
             filter {
@@ -170,6 +183,13 @@ testClusters {
             }
         }
 
+        if (knn_bwc_version.startsWith("2.15.") ||
+                knn_bwc_version.startsWith("2.16.")){
+            filter {
+                includeTestsMatching "org.opensearch.knn.bwc.ModelIT.testNonKNNIndex_withModelId"
+            }
+        }
+
         nonInputProperties.systemProperty('tests.rest.cluster', "${-> testClusters."${baseName}".allHttpSocketURI.join(",")}")
         nonInputProperties.systemProperty('tests.clustername', "${-> testClusters."${baseName}".getName()}")
         systemProperty 'tests.security.manager', 'false'
diff --git a/qa/restart-upgrade/src/test/java/org/opensearch/knn/bwc/ModelIT.java b/qa/restart-upgrade/src/test/java/org/opensearch/knn/bwc/ModelIT.java
index c2bcdbf83..f72f9324c 100644
--- a/qa/restart-upgrade/src/test/java/org/opensearch/knn/bwc/ModelIT.java
+++ b/qa/restart-upgrade/src/test/java/org/opensearch/knn/bwc/ModelIT.java
@@ -135,6 +135,32 @@ public void testKNNModelDefault() throws Exception {
         }
     }
 
+    public void testNonKNNIndex_withModelId() throws Exception {
+        final String modelId = "random-model-id";
+        final String trainingIndex = "random-training-id";
+        if (isRunningAgainstOldCluster()) {
+            // Create a training index and randomly ingest data into it
+            createBasicKnnIndex(trainingIndex, TRAINING_FIELD, DIMENSIONS);
+            bulkIngestRandomVectors(trainingIndex, TRAINING_FIELD, NUM_DOCS, DIMENSIONS);
+
+            trainKNNModel(modelId, trainingIndex, TRAINING_FIELD, DIMENSIONS, MODEL_DESCRIPTION);
+            validateModelCreated(modelId);
+
+            createKnnIndex(testIndex, createKNNDefaultScriptScoreSettings(), createKnnIndexMapping(TEST_FIELD, modelId));
+            addKNNDocs(testIndex, TEST_FIELD, DIMENSIONS, DOC_ID, NUM_DOCS);
+        } else {
+            QUERY_COUNT = NUM_DOCS;
+            DOC_ID = NUM_DOCS;
+            validateKNNScriptScoreSearch(testIndex, TEST_FIELD, DIMENSIONS, QUERY_COUNT, K, SpaceType.L2);
+            addKNNDocs(testIndex, TEST_FIELD, DIMENSIONS, DOC_ID, NUM_DOCS);
+            QUERY_COUNT = QUERY_COUNT + NUM_DOCS;
+            validateKNNScriptScoreSearch(testIndex, TEST_FIELD, DIMENSIONS, QUERY_COUNT, K, SpaceType.L2);
+            deleteKNNIndex(testIndex);
+            deleteKNNModel(modelId);
+            deleteIndex(trainingIndex);
+        }
+    }
+
     // Delete Models and ".opensearch-knn-models" index to clear cluster metadata
     @AfterClass
     public static void wipeAllModels() throws IOException {