New Delhi, Dec 20 (IANS) Bollywood star Aamir Khan Sunday clarified that he did not stay at the Saraswati hotel in Varanasi in disguise and it was only his crew members who put up there. His revelation came after the hotel owner was charged by the state police for violating the identity verification rules for guests.

"I heard the news and felt very bad. I was not staying at the hotel, although I won't share where I was staying, it's a secret. It's for the authorities to find out where I was staying," he told Star News in an interview.

"It was not the fault of the hotel owner as he assumed that I was there after meeting my crew members," he said, adding he wanted the hotel authorities to be exonerated.

"I am a strong advocate of taking care of security concerns, and hotels must check the identity of each and every one staying in their hotels," he added.

The Uttar Pradesh police Wednesday said that Aamir Khan checked into Hotel Saraswati in Mughal Sarai area of Varanasi Dec 10 along with nine other people. They checked out Dec 13.

Aamir Khan had reportedly booked the room in the name of someone else. In all, seven rooms were booked in the name of "Akram Shah and party".

The police said that the hotel did not follow government directives on verification of the identity of every hotel guest and, therefore, the owner is liable to give an explanation or else he would lose his licence.

However, Aamir was spared by the administration. "Aamir is not to blame and it was the duty of the hotel management to have the correct name of the guests in their records," police said.

The actor had gone to the Hindu holy city to search for his roots - his mother hailed from Varanasi.

Aamir did manage to trace his family connections and visited some relatives living in the city.