Abstract A Dalitz plot analysis of $${{B} ^0} \!\rightarrow \eta _c(1S) {{K} ^+} {{\pi } ^-} $$ B0→ηc(1S)K+π- decays is performed using data samples of pp collisions collected with the $$\text{ LHCb } $$ LHCb detector at centre-of-mass energies of $${\sqrt{s}} =7,~8$$ s=7,8 and $$13{\,\mathrm {Te}\mathrm {V}} $$ 13TeV , corresponding to a total integrated luminosity of $$4.7 \,\text{ fb }^{-1} $$ 4.7fb-1 . A satisfactory description of the data is obtained when including a contribution representing an exotic $$\eta _c(1S) \pi ^-$$ ηc(1S)π- resonant state. The significance of this exotic resonance is more than three standard deviations, while its mass and width are $$4096 \pm 20~^{+18}_{-22} \,\mathrm {Me}\mathrm {V} $$ 4096±20-22+18MeV and $$152 \pm 58~^{+60}_{-35} \,\mathrm {Me}\mathrm {V} $$ 152±58-35+60MeV , respectively. The spin-parity assignments $$J^P=0^+$$ JP=0+ and $$J^{P}=1^-$$ JP=1- are both consistent with the data. In addition, the first measurement of the $${{B} ^0} \!\rightarrow \eta _c(1S) {{K} ^+} {{\pi } ^-} $$ B0→ηc(1S)K+π- branching fraction is performed and gives $$\begin{aligned} \displaystyle \mathcal {B}({{B} ^0} \!\rightarrow \eta _c(1S) {{K} ^+} {{\pi } ^-} ) = (5.73 \pm 0.24 \pm 0.13 \pm 0.66) \times 10^{-4}, \end{aligned}$$ B(B0→ηc(1S)K+π-)=(5.73±0.24±0.13±0.66)×10-4, where the first uncertainty is statistical, the second systematic, and the third is due to limited knowledge of external branching fractions.