Lucknow, Aug 5 - The Uttar Pradesh police has set up a team to inquire into media reports that some youth have been given fake appointment letters to work in a rail coach factory to be set up in Uttar Pradesh's Rae Bareli district, a police official said Wednesday.

'Though no official complaint has been made in this regard, local media has reported that racketeers were taking bribe from gullible youths assuring them of jobs in the upcoming factory,' district police chief D.C. Mishra told IANS by phone.

Taking cognizance of the media reports, a police team has been constituted that would probe the case with the assistance of railway officials, he added.

According to reports, besides Rae Bareli, the fake job racket was flourishing in various districts of Uttar Pradesh including Lucknow, Unnao, Barabanki, Kanpur and Varanasi.

Congress president Sonia Gandhi and former railways minister Lalu Prasad had launched the country's third rail coach factory in Rae Bareli in January last year at a cost of Rs.20 billion ($400 million), promising jobs to at least 8,000 people. Rae Bareli is about 80 km from Lucknow.