Once a distinguished Intelligence Officer in Indian Customs, Gautam is a Presidential awardee of 1998. His name caused tremors in the world of smuggling during the eighties and nineties. He says, “Once gone to ‘Intelligence’ never comes back. When roused I still write letters to the apex power. I doubt if somebody reads them." Gautam eventually declined the award as a mark of his protest when the government meekly passed the buck after the killings of BSF personnel at the Bangladesh border.