diff --git a/astra/src/main/java/com/slack/astra/chunk/ReadOnlyChunkImpl.java b/astra/src/main/java/com/slack/astra/chunk/ReadOnlyChunkImpl.java
index 37f4e33ca7..d4aa2f2738 100644
--- a/astra/src/main/java/com/slack/astra/chunk/ReadOnlyChunkImpl.java
+++ b/astra/src/main/java/com/slack/astra/chunk/ReadOnlyChunkImpl.java
@@ -437,6 +437,12 @@ private void handleChunkAssignment(CacheSlotMetadata cacheSlotMetadata) {
       // disregarding any errors
       setChunkMetadataState(cacheSlotMetadata, Metadata.CacheSlotMetadata.CacheSlotState.FREE);
       LOG.error("Error handling chunk assignment", e);
+      // also clean up downloaded files if the chunk could not be assigned as we're marking the as
+      // FREE / available
+      if (Files.isDirectory(dataDirectory)) {
+        LOG.info("Deleting directory after failed chunk assignment{}", dataDirectory);
+        deleteDirectory();
+      }
       assignmentTimer.stop(chunkAssignmentTimerFailure);
     } finally {
       chunkAssignmentLock.unlock();
@@ -520,6 +526,18 @@ private void cleanDirectory() {
     }
   }
 
+  private void deleteDirectory() {
+    if (dataDirectory != null) {
+      try {
+        FileUtils.deleteDirectory(dataDirectory.toFile());
+      } catch (Exception e) {
+        LOG.error("Error deleting directory {}", dataDirectory.toString(), e);
+      }
+    }
+    // Force garbage collection to release file handles
+    System.gc();
+  }
+
   @VisibleForTesting
   public Metadata.CacheSlotMetadata.CacheSlotState getChunkMetadataState() {
     return cacheSlotMetadataStore.getSync(searchContext.hostname, slotId).cacheSlotState;